Print to PDF

Windows 10 includes native support for creating PDF files using a virtual printer. If it is not installed by default or if it was deleted accidentally, it can be installed again. Method-1: Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features On or Off > In the Windows Features dialog, uncheck Microsoft Print to PDF and click OK > Open this again and enable it and click OK. Method-2: Go to Control Panel > Devices and Printers > View devices and printers > Add printer > The printer that I want isn't listed > Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings > Use an existing port > Portprompt:(LocalPort) / LPT1:(Printer Port) > Select manufacturer : Microsoft > Select Printer : Microsoft Print to PDF > Assign a printer name > Finished. Note: But, as usual with windows, the output created with this native printer is so bloated, so large in size. A test made from an accounting software with 63 pages created an output PDF of 88.3 MB whereas the output from other PDF printers listed down was just less than 500 KB.

CutePDF Writer is the free version of commercial PDF converter software. Requires PS2PDF converter - Ghostscript which can be downloaded together. This is the most preferred printer and has been in use for more than 10 years. Extremely light-weight and no bugs found. Install "converter" first and then "cutewriter". To reduce size, you can alter the parameters used in a text file "%Program Files%\Acro Software\CutePDF Writer\PDFWrite.rsp". The key parameters are in the line: -dPDFSETTINGS=configuration  where configuration can be /screen, /printer, /prepress, /default. Select "Download as Softfont" option in printer preferences to embed all fonts in the PDF. Be careful while installation; there may be some bundled crapware which may not be noticed to uncheck. Download

PDF24 offers you a collection of tools that you can use to work productively with PDFs along with a PDF printer. The PDF24 Creator is able to manage multiple PDF printers. Each PDF printer can be configured differently. Download

Print to PDF from almost any Windows program. Command line interface is available. Password protect PDF documents. During a normal installation, the installer will suggest that you download the prerequisites as part of the installation. However, if you do not have a connection to the Internet on the computer where you want to install it, this will not work. Therefore, you can download the prerequisites separately (PDF Printer setup, Ghostscript Lite setup, PDF Power Tool setup, Xpdf setup) and place them in the same folder as the downloaded setup program. When the printer's setup program finds the prerequisites in the same folder then it will not suggest that you download them. This is faster than the others. Note: some features like turn-off compress images are not possible in the free version. Download

 

doPDF is a free PDF printer that does what the name suggests, creates PDF files. Once installed it will allow you to convert any type of printable documents to PDF files. doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list and also in the list of All Programs. With it you can convert your Word documents, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, Publisher presentations, Visio drawings, Outlook emails, AutoCad drawings, company's reports, contracts, workflows, agreements, marketing plans, forms, products list, price list, charts, emails or web pages - and basically any type of printable document. Download