Staceyshoe Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Is there a free and easy-to-use program that will enable me to create PDFs? I'd like to create some printables to use on my blog. TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 You can pretty much use any program (I do it with Word a LOT) and when you hit save, it'll ask you what you want to save it as. Click the drop down box to find the PDF format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 You can pretty much use any program (I do it with Word a LOT) and when you hit save, it'll ask you what you want to save it as. Click the drop down box to find the PDF format. Did I mention that I'm technologically-challenged? ;) I'm using the 2002 version of MS Word. I did see what you are saying about saving it another format (never knew that before!), but PDF doesn't seem to be an option for me. Is updating my version of Word the easiest solution for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 As the first response mentioned, you can use recent versions of M$ WORD and select to save the file in .PDF format. My DD has M$ WORD 2010 on her PC and she can do that. Also, we have the free version of Nitro Reader 3. The name of this application is very deceptive. You can also Edit and do other things with .PDF files, with Nitro Reader 3, that you cannot do with a normal .PDF Reader such as Adobe Reader. With Nitro Reader 3, you can also drop other file types onto the Desktop Icon and have them converted into .PDF files. With Nitro Reader 3 you can Digitally Sign .PDF files that you receive, that need your signature and send them back, via email. When my DD began taking an "Online" Math course in TTUISD in October, we discovered that they required the lessons to be submitted in .PDF format. When I did some reading about .PDF files, I learned that among the reasons for using them are: (a) They look exactly like the creator wanted them to look, when the reader views them and (b)They can be viewed with free software applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Did I mention that I'm technologically-challenged? ;) I'm using the 2002 version of MS Word. I did see what you are saying about saving it another format (never knew that before!), but PDF doesn't seem to be an option for me. Is updating my version of Word the easiest solution for me? You are correct, saving files in .PDF format is NOT an option in earlier versions of M$ WORD. I have M$ WORD 2003 on this *old* PC and I cannot do that. I believe (not positive about this), that saving files in .PDF format became possible with M$ WORD 2007. DD's new PC came with a Starter version of M$ WORD 2010 and she can save files in .PDF format. You can also use OpenOfficeOrg which is Free Open Source Software. The equivalant to M$ WORD (I think it is called Write or Writer) can save files in .PDF format. However, there may be a setting you need to change in the configuration, for it to do that so that others can read and/or edit your .PDF files. OpenOfficeOrg can be used, without any legal problems and it is free. So, yes, either upgrading to a newer version of M$ WORD or downloading, installing and using OpenOfficeOrg would be the way for you to go. OpenOfficeOrg is a complete Office Suite, so in addition to Word Processing, it has a Spreadsheet application, a Presentation application, etc. So, for example, if you receive a M$ Excel file, you can open it with the OpenOffice Spreadsheet application. GL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isabella Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 There is also a downloadable free PDF creator called CutePDF. Google it, and follow the download instructions. Then (hopefully it'll work with 2002 msword) create your document in Word - when you've finished click 'Print'. Then in the drop down menu where you can choose what to print it with, it'll have CutePDF option. This will not print, but create the document in a PDF format, which you can save to desktop or wherever. From there you can print it. I'm definitely tech challenged, but this was easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I do it in Word (several times per week), but I have a much more recent version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I second using Open Office. If you're using a 10 year old version of Word, you probably need to upgrade something anyway, and Open Office is free and pretty much as good as Word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 ITA, if you don't want to spend money on a newer version of Word, get Open Office ! I don't even have and MSOffice programs running anymore - I use Open Office exclusively. Another way to do it is a Google Drive document. When you go to print, it first creates a pdf, which you can choose to save a copy of (as a pdf). And with Google Drive, your stuff is saved in your Google account cloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 Thank you, everyone! I will give Open Office a try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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