How can I make a PDF without Acrobat?

[Edward Kann@StoryART]

Other options

If you are just creating a once in a blue moon .pdf document you can always try your neighborhood copy shop. I know that Kinko's used to .pdf files routinely in order to print materials. You might take a disc load of files down to them and ask them how much they charge to do it. You might be able to get access to acrobat on one of their rental computers as well. I don't know about your particular area Kinko's if you have one but I seem to recall that years ago they had acrobat installed on their machines.

Anyway if you are just looking for a once in a while thing that is a good option.

If you plan to do it regularly or do any sort of serious document work I highly recommend acrobat pro. Yes it is expensive as all get out but it is a very helpful tool.

My two cents worth.

Good luck with your project!

Edward Kann
StoryART Games

 

[Fast Learner]

PDF995 is really a great way to go, super-easy to install and use, works like a charm, and it's free.

 

[jmucchiello]

Can you add bookmarks and hyperlinks in a document that's PDFed with Ghostscript? IMO, at least the former are a requirement for larger PDF books. They're not necessary for things like TOGC's spell cards, but I would be kind of miffed if I bought something like Arcana Unearthed and it didn't have bookmarks.

Can I? Yes, because I can read postscript. Do I recommend doing it that way? No, but it is how I added bookmarks to both of my PDF releases.

 

[Staffan]

Can I? Yes, because I can read postscript. Do I recommend doing it that way? No, but it is how I added bookmarks to both of my PDF releases.

Ah, that's allright then. In that case, it's more "Ghostscript plus incredible postscript-fu" that makes professional-looking books than just Ghostscript.

 

[CombatWombat51]

Sorry for temporarily abandoning my thread. I haven't had the chance to read all of the responses yet, but I likely will tomorrow. And have some questions, too Thanks so far, and curse work for keeping me from beloved enworld!

 

[CombatWombat51]

Wow, I just installed and tried out PDF995. That's freakin' cool! Thanks much for the info guys

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

How much does Acrobat run? I heard it was NOT cheap.

 

[HellHound]

A student edition of Acrobat Pro 6 runs $70 Canadian, but student prices are INCREDIBLY lower than MSRP.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Czech out this Microsoft Office alternative

http://earthlink.com.com/Czech+out+...newsfeed&subj=technews&part=earthlink&type=pt

See options for this word process...

...new version of its 602PC Suite, adding tools for converting documents into files based on Adobe Systems' widespread Portable Document Format. Company President Premysl Pech...

http://www.software602.com/

 

[haiiro]

The BEST thing would be if there was some program that just saves a text file as a pdf, but I think that's wishful thinking.

Not so wishful. Elfima Notepad is pretty close to that, except that it doesn't allow much in the way of formatting. Still it does turn text into a PDF, and it's free. I've used it a couple of times, and I can attest that it works as advertised.