# Low-cost alternative to Adobe Acrobat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211 "2006-02-13T03:09:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/1 "2006-02-13T03:09:27Z")
Does anyone have anyone have experience with deskPDF professional by docudesk ([http://www.docudesk.com/index.shtml](http://www.docudesk.com/index.shtml))? If it’ll work as well as adobe acrobat, it’s a steal. If you have anything to say about this product, I’d appreciate the inputs - good or bad. Can you recommend a better (and cheap) alternative? ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/2 "2006-02-13T03:26:39Z")
> [@BarnOwl](#): > > Does anyone have anyone have experience with deskPDF professional by docudesk > ([Soda PDF - PDF Software to Create, Convert, Edit and Sign Files](http://www.docudesk.com/index.shtml))? > > If it’ll work as well as adobe acrobat, it’s a steal. If you have anything to say about this product, I’d appreciate the inputs - good or bad. > > Can you recommend a better (and cheap) alternative? It would be good to know what you’re using it for. [PDFCreator](http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) is free and can generate PDFs from pretty much anything you can print, even combine multiple documents as a single PDF. While it lacks the latest features of Acrobat, it supports 128 bit encryption and a few other bells and whistles. If all you need to do is convert documents to PDF I would check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/3 "2006-02-13T05:00:07Z")
[Open Office](http://www.openoffice.org/) outputs PDF from its own or MS Word format files, virtually faultlessly in my experience. As a bonus you don’t have to pay MS’s exorbitant prices for their office suite any more. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/4 "2006-02-13T05:04:06Z")
We use the free version of [PDF995](http://www.pdf995.com/) at work. It just installs a print driver and is compatible with everything we use. I have never known a problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/5 "2006-02-13T15:00:23Z")
> [@Stan Doubt](#): > > It would be good to know what you’re using it for. [PDFCreator](http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) is free and can generate PDFs from pretty much anything you can print, even combine multiple documents as a single PDF. While it lacks the latest features of Acrobat, it supports 128 bit encryption and a few other bells and whistles. If all you need to do is convert documents to PDF I would check it out. What I want to do is go to websites, download files as PDFs, then selectively print the PDF pages. Say I downloaded 10 pages worth as PDFs. I now want to print pages 3 through 7. I downloaded the PDF Create (3 files) at sourceforge as you recommended. Now, I’m trying to figure out how to download web files. If there’s an easy way to do this I would appreciate your explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/6 "2006-02-13T15:21:40Z")
> [@BarnOwl](#): > > What I want to do is go to websites, download files as PDFs, then selectively print the PDF pages. Say I downloaded 10 pages worth as PDFs. I now want to print pages 3 through 7. You can’t just do that with Acrobat Reader? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/7 "2006-02-13T15:32:50Z")
If by “download files as PDFs” you mean download PDF files that a web page has made available to you, then the free Acrobat Reader can do that. Or, I use the Foxit viewer because I don’t have to wait for Acrobat to load - Foxit displays the PDF pretty much instantly. If you want to grab an HTML web page and save it as a PDF, that’s different. The PDFCreator product mentioned earlier can do that pretty easily by “printing” the web page to the PDFCreator program. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/8 "2006-02-13T15:46:12Z")
> [@BarnOwl](#): > > Does anyone have anyone have experience with deskPDF professional by docudesk ([Soda PDF - PDF Software to Create, Convert, Edit and Sign Files](http://www.docudesk.com/index.shtml))? > If it’ll work as well as adobe acrobat, it’s a steal. If you have anything to say about this product, I’d appreciate the inputs - good or bad. > Can you recommend a better (and cheap) alternative? I don’t know about better BUT this is cheaper at [No Cost to YOU](http://www.yankee-clipper.net/) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/9 "2006-02-13T15:53:02Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > You can’t just do that with Acrobat Reader? Yes, but for $9.99/month or $99.99/year. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/10 "2006-02-13T16:07:26Z")
> [@BarnOwl](#): > > Yes, but for $9.99/month or $99.99/year. Acrobat Reader is free. When you choose print, you can specify a page range (3-7) or even individual pages (3,5,7). Free. Adobe Acrobat allows you to _create_ PDF files. I use CutePDF to create PDF files from other documents. It, too, is free (at least the version I use is, I think they have more powerful versions that they sell). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/11 "2006-02-13T16:10:23Z")
I use PrimoPDF, as a Print\>PDF solution, only because it’s the first one I stumbled across and it works. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/12 "2006-02-14T15:29:29Z")
For what it’s worth… SnagIt 8.0 (@ $39.95) does the job. Check it out at [techsmith.com](http://techsmith.com). What happened was I called the TechSmith 800 number to order the CD of SnagIt V 8.0. (I had downloaded it a little while ago and felt I should have a hardcopy just in case. While on the phone to a very nice gal, Pauline, I asked her about software that would download web files as pdfs - other than Acrobat. When she finished our business, she turned me over to Tech Support. The guy there, Bill, told me that my .SnagIt 8.0 does exactly what I want! So I opened my copy, and he talked me through it. We downloaded my home page (Google) as a pdf, using SnagIt. Bingo! I thanked him profusely, and after hanging up, I went to [TalkingPointsMemo.com](http://TalkingPointsMemo.com) and downloaded their home page — ending up with a PDF file of 13 pages — which I can selectively print. BTW, at first, Bill thought you could do this with Acrobat Reader as well. So I asked him how (remembering that a poster here said the same thing). But when he tried, he couldn’t download a web file as a pdf. Maybe you can, somehow. I am too computer-stupid to challenge anyone here on any issue. Anyway, just thought you’d like to know this. **And please note: I have no affiliation whatever with TechSmith, or for that matter, any software, hardware, or in-between ware company in this here universe.** ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-cost-alternative-to-adobe-acrobat/344211/13 "2006-02-14T15:43:52Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > We use the free version of [PDF995](http://www.pdf995.com/) at work. It just installs a print driver and is compatible with everything we use. I have never known a problem with it. I struggled with that damned program for the better part of a day, and it still couldn’t handle certain symbol fonts or complex layouts from MS-Word. I was trying to make PDF files of a book I was working on to send out to the proofreaders and my editor. I finally gave up, bit the bullet, and bought Adobe. It’s worked flawlessly since. Of course, last year I bought a Mac and switched to OpenOffice, and PDFs have worked flawlessly without having the Adobe softare loaded.