How can I make a PDF without Acrobat?

[CombatWombat51]

I have Adobe Photoshop, and I see the option to save a file as a PDF. The real problem is how I can transfer a text file to Photoshop and get it to come out looking like it started. Or even how I could type my own text into Photoshop and have it work like a word processor.

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.

And for the record, I'm not actually interested in sellling PDFs, I'd just like this for my own personal use

 

[Aristotle]

I broke down and got Acrobat, but the file format was opened up so that others can support it so there are other ways to legally create a PDF. I haven't used any of them, so I can't tell you how good they work or not.

I did a couple of quick google searches and found AcroPDF. It looks to be free and have some features. There are several others available though. I just did a search on freeware AND "print to pdf" OR "export to pdf".

 

[Staffan]

A quick-and-dirty way is to install a postscript printer driver and get GhostScript and GhostView. Ghostscript is a program for handling postscript files, while GhostView is a graphical interface for Ghostscript. One of the features is "convert to PDF", which will give you a bare-bones PDF. It won't have bookmarks or hyperlinks or stuff like that, but it will display in Acrobat and you can print it out.

It's also free and completely legal.

 

[mythusmage]

If your plaform of choice is the Mac there are a number of PDF distillers out there. I hear that with OSX you can save to PDF from Appleworks or Word etc.

If all you need is a distiller then I recommend a printer utility such as AcroPDF (Windows, right?) or PrinttoPDF (Macintosh)

But, if you use a distiller make sure you have a finished (written, edited, proofed, laid out, art added) product ready to go before you distill it.

Hope this helps

 

[afstanton]

OpenOffice will do pdf. No clue on how easy/hard it is to do good layout with it, as I've never tried, but I know it does pdf output.

 

[tjoneslo]

If you have just a few files, Adobe offers a service to create your PDF file. I have seen other similar systems (email a site your file, they email back the PDF). If you don't like the thought of emailing large files about, Ghostscript is an excellent way of creating basic PDFs.

The downside to the GhostScript and other printer methods is your PDF wont have any bookmarks, links or other PDF features that make it look really professional.

 

[Staffan]

The downside to the GhostScript and other printer methods is your PDF wont have any bookmarks, links or other PDF features that make it look really professional.

Though it's useful if you're not doing it on a professional level, or just making a character sheet or something.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I have Adobe Photoshop, and I see the option to save a file as a PDF. The real problem is how I can transfer a text file to Photoshop and get it to come out looking like it started. Or even how I could type my own text into Photoshop and have it work like a word processor.

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.

And for the record, I'm not actually interested in sellling PDFs, I'd just like this for my own personal use

I don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for: PDF995

It's a tool that creates pdfs from the print...-option in the file-menu. Works on any program. I love it.

 

[jmucchiello]

Though it's useful if you're not doing it on a professional level, or just making a character sheet or something.

Funny, I use Ghostscript and I consider my products professionally made.

 

[Staffan]

Funny, I use Ghostscript and I consider my products professionally made.

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.