# URGENT - Need Word to PDF Converter software - cheap but good **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554 "2007-09-26T15:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/1 "2007-09-26T15:33:36Z")
I need to convert many Word files to PDF **ASAP** for emailing. PDF files should be small enough to email efficiently (i.e., black & white, not high resolution). Should be Adobe readable by the recipient. I don’t want to spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$ on Adobe Is there a free / cheap / reliable conversion software available? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/2 "2007-09-26T15:37:07Z")
[DoPDF](http://www.dopdf.com/) is free. It installs as a printer and “prints” anything to a PDF file. I’ve never had any problems with it. EDIT: But I’ve never used it with Word. It should work, but I have little-to-no experience with Word. ---
**Author:** ![larsenmtl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@larsenmtl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsenmtl)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/3 "2007-09-26T15:40:36Z")
[QUOTE=Bearflag70] I need to convert many Word files to PDF **ASAP** for emailing. [/QUOTE] OpenOffice > **[Apache OpenOffice - Official Site - The Free and Open Productivity Suite](http://www.openoffice.org/)** > > The official home page of the Apache OpenOffice open source project, home of OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw and Base. Open the Word doc, Export to PDF. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/4 "2007-09-26T15:46:47Z")
If you have Vista and Office 2007, you can download the capability free from Microsoft. With the add-in all Office products put out PDFs fairly automatically. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/5 "2007-09-26T15:49:00Z")
[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso] If you have Vista and Office 2007, you can download the capability free from Microsoft. With the add-in all Office products put out PDFs fairly automatically. [/QUOTE] XP & 2000 or 2002 Thanks, Dopers, I’ll check out the links. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/6 "2007-09-26T15:55:18Z")
[QUOTE=larsenmtl] OpenOffice > **[Apache OpenOffice - Official Site - The Free and Open Productivity Suite](http://www.openoffice.org/)** > > The official home page of the Apache OpenOffice open source project, home of OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw and Base. Open the Word doc, Export to PDF. [/QUOTE] I have to recommend against this choice. When I open Word documents in OO, I often get rendering errors. And when I export an OO file to PDF using the built in tool, I often get still other errors. Word -\> OO -\> PDF works OK for basic files, but any kind of formatting in the original will probably be lost by the time you get to the PDF, in my experience. And this is from someone who uses OOWriter almost exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/7 "2007-09-26T16:02:09Z")
Hmmm… The documents are legal pleadings. The case caption is formatted with certain lines and spacing, and each page has numbers down the left margin. Otherwise, it’s simple text. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/8 "2007-09-26T16:03:31Z")
Google Documents also has an option to export any files you have up there to PDF ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/9 "2007-09-26T16:10:38Z")
Any PDF printer will do, like the one **Mayo Speaks!** linked to or [PDF995](http://www.pdf995.com/). After you install your free PDF printer of choice, go to PRINT in Word and choose the PDF printer instead of your regular printer. It’ll ask you where you want to save the file. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/10 "2007-09-26T16:16:47Z")
[QUOTE=Mayo Speaks!] I have to recommend against this choice. When I open Word documents in OO, I often get rendering errors. And when I export an OO file to PDF using the built in tool, I often get still other errors. Word -\> OO -\> PDF works OK for basic files, but any kind of formatting in the original will probably be lost by the time you get to the PDF, in my experience. [/QUOTE] Ditto that. When I was job-hunting, half the companies wanted MS Word and the other half wanted PDF, and I didn’t have Acrobat. So I used OO to output as PDF, and had to re-edit my resume every time I opened it - and similarly, saving my OO resume as a Word doc caused rendering errors when I opened it in MS Word. So I had to keep the master in Word. Go down another route and save yourself some swearing! ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/11 "2007-09-26T16:46:29Z")
So I should save everything as a new file and convert the new file without screwing around with my original word docs. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/12 "2007-09-26T16:49:57Z")
> **[PDFCreator](https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/)** > > Download PDFCreator for free. Converts every printable document to PDF, JPG, PNG, TIF and more. PDFCreator creates professional PDFs with just a few clicks and it's free. PDFCreator comes with many professional features to merge documents, send... Works as a printer. You print you document choosing pdf creater instead of your usual printer. Works great lasts a long time. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/13 "2007-09-26T16:52:53Z")
There’s also a whole bunch of online services that convert Word or HTML to PDF. Google will give you many more like [this](http://www.freepdfconvert.com/default.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/14 "2007-09-26T16:56:04Z")
[QUOTE=gazpacho] > **[PDFCreator](https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/)** > > Download PDFCreator for free. Converts every printable document to PDF, JPG, PNG, TIF and more. PDFCreator creates professional PDFs with just a few clicks and it's free. PDFCreator comes with many professional features to merge documents, send... Works as a printer. You print you document choosing pdf creater instead of your usual printer. Works great lasts a long time. [/QUOTE] This is what we use in our office. I’ve never had any problems with it and it’s easy to use. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/15 "2007-09-26T16:57:27Z")
[QUOTE=slaphead] There’s also a whole bunch of online services that convert Word or HTML to PDF. Google will give you many more like [this](http://www.freepdfconvert.com/default.asp) [/QUOTE] Thanks. BTW I tried Google but I didn’t know which results were Doper tested and approved. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/16 "2007-09-26T17:54:44Z")
You’ve probably handled your emergency by now, but in my office, we’ve used [Win2PDF](http://www.win2pdf.com/) for years. It seems to work well. If you don’t pay them, they tack on an advertisement page at the end of your document. Otherwise, my recollection is that individual licenses are something like $30 each. Not bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/17 "2007-09-26T18:31:17Z")
I haven’t done this project yet. I’m about to start. ---
**Author:** ![dynamitedave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/18 "2007-09-26T20:22:50Z")
I use [Cutepdf writer](http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp) It installs as a printer, is free, and works well, with no ads/watermark. You do need to install Ghostscript which is a link on the same page. Dave ---
**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:** [September 26, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/19 "2007-09-26T21:33:15Z")
I use [PrimoPDF](http://primopdf.com) - anything that prints to paper can print to it instead, but it’s only one of many free solutions. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554/20 "2007-09-26T21:59:30Z")
Double check your Printers and Faxes link to see if by any chance you’ve wound up with Acrobat Distiller installed as a printer. If you print to it as a virtual printer it will convert to PDFs. Or if you go to [Adobe’s Create PDF page](http://createpdf.adobe.com/), you can do 5 for free and do as many as you want within a month for 10 bucks then cancel. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-need-word-to-pdf-converter-software-cheap-but-good/420554.md?page=2)