Free 'press ready' PDF makers for MAC and PC

[RobertK]

What FREE pdf makers for MAC and PC are out there and recommended for making 'press ready' files for book printing? Although I know 'free' and 'recommended' dont really go together ;-)

Mostly for one-time customers or customers that come few times a year. Who are not going to buy a $$ application.

They make there books in Microsoft Word and need to supply us a PDF. With the option to embed fonts, quality settings. Just something we can generally work with. Being user friendly is most important for them.

I know i can advice the trial version of Acrobat Pro. But this only works for the 1-timers.. So looking for a single solution.

Thanks,

Robert

[disbellj]

CutePDF doesn't work on Mac, but I have installed it on multiple Windows computers up front, and they find that it does what they need.

CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Free PDF Utilities, Edit PDF easily;.

As far as Mac, if they can print, then they will see PDF in Print dialog box, and can choose to Save As PDF/X. Everything will be converted to RGB, but hires will be kept, and fonts will be embedded. Not the best solution, but it's free. I really wish Apple would include PDF/X-4. In fact, I'm on the phone right now with them trying to get this put in as a feature request, to help all prepress everywhere (that use Macs) to receive PDF in a format that is more editable. In fact, if one wanted to let Apple know of their desire for this feature, please go to apple.com/feedback and let them know.

Don

[jotterpinky]

You could also try the Microsoft option if they are using Office 2007

Download details: 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS

It allows them to save their file directly from Word as a PDF.

The downside to this option is you would need Pitstop or something to change graphics to CMYK etc.

[DanB]

We have our customers use PDFredirect. Here is a link. PDF reDirect - The free PDF Creator alternative to pdf995, cutepdf and freepdf

[arkay_desai]

hi Robert,

Check with PDF995 printer. It may helps you to create PDF.

PDF Creation

Arkay

[RobertK]

I can see there are numerous options out there! I also began googling the subject....and there are TONS of PDF makers. But all being for PC. So i guess when we have MAC users ill have to experiment with the OSX supllied PDF maker.

Anyone ever analyzed some and can tell me which is the user friendliest en gets best results? Or a shortlist for me to try out and compare.

[almaink]

RobertK there is a great online option to do this, the only limitation is file size, under 1 meg. For free you can't complain tho. Free Online Doc Converter, Convert to PDF, PDF Printer Driver, Convert to Image, PDF Converter.
BTW it converts all kinds of files even Word Perfect.

[RobertK]

RobertK there is a great online option to do this, the only limitation is file size, under 1 meg. For free you can't complain tho. Free Online Doc Converter, Convert to PDF, PDF Printer Driver, Convert to Image, PDF Converter.
BTW it converts all kinds of files even Word Perfect.

1MB is WAY to limited, they are always bigger. talking about books here. Not 4 page brochures ;-)
But thanks for the suggestion.

[toronar]

gDoc Creator for PDF and XPS Creation from Global Graphics works and is free.
It is a bit large, though.

Regards,
toronar