I have found a new PDF Friend

[Thehandyman1957]

Hello all. For those of you that have been around a bit you might remember a thread "Pdf extension not working"

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11304

Where we talked about a particular add on called Printpagestopdf and our troubles getting it to work with the newest Pale Moon.
Well that finally got worked out but it does have it's limits like not formatting some sites correctly.

So because of that I had always been looking for something that would be as close to it as possible as a backup.

Well I finally found it. For those of you in Linux land, this is already something available to you but for us Windows users, well not so much.

The program is called Bullzip Free PDF Printer. And No bull (pun intended) it really is free and really does work.

The Bullzip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application.

This program is FREEWARE with limitations, which means that there is a FREE version for personal and commercial use up to 10 users. It does not contain any advertising or popups. For commercial applications with more than 10 users there are commercial versions available with advanced features.

The only two things I could find that needed the upgrade were "uncompress" and "Append if output exists"
And it only gives a little window asking if you want to upgrade if you try to change those two settings. No junk.

http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php
This version will download and install the 3 other programs needed to make the whole thing work in one shot.

There is also a offline version if you want to have a full back up of all the install programs here.
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/download.php
Just scroll down the page till you see this and download them to your computer. Then Install all four.

Install the bottom three first and then the first one on the list. Then you can open the main Bullzip Pdf Printer options.

Default settings will send the file to your desktop but there are many settings that allow you to fine tune it the way you like it.
Personally after getting it all set up I turned off all the dialog box's so when I print it just opens my PDF program and that allows me to save it where I want it.

The only change I had to make with Pale Moon was in Print preview I had to use "shrink to fit" and after that it was done.

So now I can just hit print in Pale Moon (or any other program) and choose

And hit Ok. When finished I have it set up to automatically open my default Pdf program to preview.

Here is a print to pdf of this page.

I have found a new PDF Friend - Pale Moon forum.pdf

(270.07 KiB) Downloaded 64 times

[Thehandyman1957]

For those of you that want it to give you an option on where to put the file you can follow these steps.

First open the Bullzip PDF Options

Screenshot - 6_20_2016 , 7_01_53 PM.png (4.43 KiB) Viewed 8524 times

It will look like this.

Where it says file name.

Screenshot - 6_20_2016 , 7_08_53 PM.png (2.54 KiB) Viewed 8524 times

The first thing you want to do is delete the <desktop>, when you click on the right side of it.
It will highlight the whole thing. just hit the delete button once.

Then you will see a little box with <> just click on it and it will open this box.

Screenshot - 6_20_2016 , 7_12_13 PM.png (11.74 KiB) Viewed 8524 times

The second from the bottom is <app>, just double click it and that will add it where the <desktop> was. Then hit apply and your done.
Now when you print it will give you the "where to save dialog box.

There are a lot of other settings available, like setting it to auto open the pdf. Or to not bother you with question boxes (good after initial setup).
Or on the "other" tab you can tell it not to show a message when done converting.

It is very customizable which could be a bit intimidating but I found it only took me about 10 minutes to get it the way I liked it.
If you mess up you can simply set it back to defaults and start again.

So enjoy!

[Moonchild]

For the record, I have used "PrimoPDF" for years now which works exactly the same way for printing to PDF (my main way of creating PDF files is this way, also from office applications) and it doesn't require anything "on-line" or tied into any sort of service.

Saving web pages as-displayed to PDF, I always do with Fireshot (I got the Pro version since they deserved the support, but the free version will do just fine as well for anyone ) -- since printing from within a browser usually loses display/layout elements unless the page is specifically laid out to be printer-friendly.

[KNTRO]

And for web articles and simple pages, don't forget about the Print Friendly & PDF website. Most of the times it works awesome! It has even a bookmarklet‼ So cool‼

[Thehandyman1957]

Here is a great article that reviews both Bullzip PrintPdf, PrimoPdf and several others.
https://dottech.org/126746/windows-revi ... f-printer/

They also go through a couple of PDF Editors too! All freeware, though 7pdf has some pretty harsh comments.

So don't forget to read the comments.

[Thehandyman1957]

I also found this cool little add on.
Seamless Print 0.1.2.rev127.1-signed

That allows you to do one click printing by allowing you to toggle the print dialog box on and off.
Now when I click print it just goes straight to my preview and if I do indeed need to print to my printer I
just click on the little icon and it changes it back.

I also use Right click print.
RC Print 1.0.2.1-signed.1-signed

So I can just right click a page and print. Very slick!

[VLMin]

There is also an open source PDF printer called PDFCreator. I've happily used both PDFCreator and PrimoPDF (mentioned in this thread) for years. Just another option that https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/.

I should also mention a free online service, HTML to PDF, where one can convert web pages (specifically) into PDF files. Useful when on the go and when privacy/security is not the highest consideration.

[soewhaty]

There is also an open source PDF printer called PDFCreator. I've happily used both PDFCreator and PrimoPDF (mentioned in this thread) for years. Just another option that https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/.

I should also mention a free online service, HTML to PDF, where one can convert web pages (specifically) into PDF files. Useful when on the go and when privacy/security is not the highest consideration.

I tried PDFCreator and it is really, really not good at all.

For the record, I have used "PrimoPDF" for years now which works exactly the same way for printing to PDF (my main way of creating PDF files is this way, also from office applications) and it doesn't require anything "on-line" or tied into any sort of service.

Saving web pages as-displayed to PDF, I always do with Fireshot (I got the Pro version since they deserved the support, but the free version will do just fine as well for anyone ) -- since printing from within a browser usually loses display/layout elements unless the page is specifically laid out to be printer-friendly.

Is this what you are referring to - http://www.primopdf.com/ and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... /fireshot/

[VLMin]

soewhaty, would you be willing to elaborate on your criticism of PDF Creator?

[soewhaty]

soewhaty, would you be willing to elaborate on your criticism of PDF Creator?

Will install it again and will get back to you. Unless I'm mixing it with something else, my experience with it was that it was bloatware ...

[soewhaty]

soewhaty, would you be willing to elaborate on your criticism of PDF Creator?

Yep, as I said, bloatware. Last time I used it it was full of this type of stuff

which in my book falls under the category of modern-day software filled with extra bloatware with the sole purpose of money making, advertising, and so on. Software once used to be clean and simple, the code did what it had to do in an optimal way and that was that, end of story. Now, though, they push all sorts of ads and junk in your face, silently install rootkits with elevated privileges and so on and so forth (that's a general thought and not particularly pointed at PDF Creator). What also annoyed me last I used PDF creator was that it constantly kept on prompting me to install PDF architect, which I eventually did, just to shut it up. If I wanted an extra pdf management utility I'd have gone online and downloaded one. No need for PDF creator to constantly nag me about their PDF architect, but I said ok, let's try it. When I tried it it was nothing special so I didn't get what the big wow was all about. This time, when I installed PDF creator, just for the sole purpose of sharing my views with VLMin, I opted out of installing the 'architect' cos I knew what was in store ...

[VLMin]

Thank you. That's all quite clear. I guess I've reached the point where I habitually watch carefully during all software installations, both paid and "free", so I've allowed myself to become numb to all the bloatware, crapware, or whatever other name might be used. You're right, though, they do push Architect.

Thanks again!

[soewhaty]

Thank you. That's all quite clear. I guess I've reached the point where I habitually watch carefully during all software installations, both paid and "free", so I've allowed myself to become numb to all the bloatware, crapware, or whatever other name might be used. You're right, though, they do push Architect.

Thanks again!

No prob! I thought you were one of the devs of PDF creator, about to criticize me for my criticism towards the app. Well, then again, it is on ninite so that's strange enough, cos they normally support good apps only, but who knows. I mean it certainly looks bloaty from that screenshot, but not only it ...

[VLMin]

Oh, not at all, sorry if I gave that impression! I've used PDF Creator for years, because it just works, and it does have a few nice UI elements WRT adding information to the properties of the PDF to be created. So I was just curious, and of course, everything you said is true. Thanks again!

[soewhaty]

Oh, not at all, sorry if I gave that impression! I've used PDF Creator for years, because it just works, and it does have a few nice UI elements WRT adding information to the properties of the PDF to be created. So I was just curious, and of course, everything you said is true. Thanks again!

NP, the fact it is on ninite speaks good about it but just ... dunno. There are loads and loads of other such tools which are less bloaty so ur choice, but one can certainly live with PDF creator as long as you just tell it to stop bugging you about Architect. I might be wrong, cos it was quite some time ago, but back then when I used it my firewall showed me it also silently wanted to connect to the internet for whatever purposes ... maybe benign for updates or sth or maybe malign (many apps do that so that's nothing new, just shows the must of a good fw) so I blocked it. But yeah, that was another sign that made me put it in the bloat category.

[Latitude]

Yep, as I said, bloatware.

Just install Unchecky. It would skip the bundled software installation automatically.

[Latitude]

I remember using CutePDF many many years ago in an internet cafe.

[Falna]

I've used PDF Creator for years, because it just works, and it does have a few nice UI elements WRT adding information to the properties of the PDF to be created

Despite the 'bloat' - which I skip during install - I also find PDF Creator useful for the ability to add properties, and even more for being able to output to PDF/A - or more specifically PDF/A-2b (recommended above regular PDF for long-term preservation: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000322.shtml). There don't seem to be many free PDF printers that can do that - but if anyone knows of a better one that can, I'd be interested.