|
Here is an interesting exercise which I compiled a
few years ago. There was a time when it was difficult to create PDF files
without spending a tidy sum of money for a commercial program. I managed
to create this tutorial which allows the more adventurous Users to install
a couple of free programs and use them to redirect just about any document
to a PDF creator using the "print" option. The tutorial assumes
some knowledge of how to perform simple installations and how to input
information into relevant boxes.
I am releasing this tutorial again simply as a
piece of nostalgia and for anyone who wants to spend a few minutes working
with some interesting apps.
The result is reasonably User-friendly, as
long as you remember to create a unique name for your PDF file
otherwise you are in danger of overwriting other files. This method does
not warn you that you will be overwriting files - so you have now been
warned to remember that :-) If you overwrite an important file,
don't blame me. I'm only showing this info for interest.
Also, remember that some of the older open-source
software might have been superseded by now, so it is up to you to get the
most relevant version and make the necessary adjustments in your editing.
The PDF version of this tutorial (as converted
using this very method) can be found at http://www.wurvy.com/freepdfxp.pdf
and is about 465kb in size
So, here we go:
What to do:
1.
Install:
a.
GhostScript (suggest installing
it to C:\gs\)
b. RedMon
2.
Create a text file named pdfwrite.rsp
(suggest save to C:\gs\)
3.
Add a New Printer – call it pdfwriter
4.
Configure the printer to create pdf files on your hard drive
5.
Open a previously-created word document to test
6.
Choose File/Print… but choose the pdfwriter printer option
7.
Save document with a sensible name - ensure the extension is .pdf
8.
Open pdf document to ensure Acrobat Reader can read it
Example
showing how a file can be saved in pdf format
Disclaimer:
You undertake this tutorial at your own risk. Always make sure you have a
full backup of your system before trying anything new. There is no
guarantee that this procedure will work, but it has been successfully
tested on both Windows 98® and Windows XP®.
How to do it:
1.
Make
sure you have copies of the following two free open-source programs and
install them:
Ghostscript
(install to C:\gs\)
Available
from http://www.ghostscript.com/doc/AFPL/get704.htm
or http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
(version 7.04 has been successfully tested on Windows 98 and Windows XP)
RedMon (use default
installation path)
Available
from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/redmon/index.htm
2.
Create
a new text file called pdfwrite.rsp and place it in the GhostScript
install directory – for example, C:\gs\pdfwrite.rsp
Contents
of the text file are as follows:
-IC:\gs\gs7.04\lib;C:\gs\fonts
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite
-r300
-dNOPAUSE
-dSAFER
-sPAPERSIZE=a4
It should
look like this:
(Note
that the first letter of the first line is I
for India)
The paths
may need to be amended depending on where GhostScript was installed. The
“–I” flag must be the
path of the GhostScript lib and fonts directories.
Save the
file as pdfwrite.rsp and save
it to the GhostScript directory.
3.
Add
a New Printer and rename it pdfwriter (or something else descriptive).
This will be the GhostScript device used to write the PDF files.
Follow
the wizard and add/change settings as described below
Choose
“Local printer attached to this computer”
(Do
not allow it to “Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play
printer”)
Select
“Create a new port: Type of Port:” and choose “Redirected Port”
Install
a printer driver for a colour PostScript printer, for example the Apple
Color LaserWriter 12/600 driver as suggested in the RedMon documentation.
Give
the printer a descriptive name such as “pdfwriter”
Sharing
option has not been tested, so share at your own risk…
Do
not print a test page
Click
finish
4.
Double-click
on your new pdfwriter printer to open its window then choose
Printer/Properties then click on the “Ports” tab.
Make
sure the (RPT1:) Redirected Port is highlighted and ticked, then click
“Configure Port…”
After
the printer driver is installed, open up its properties dialog. Configure
the attached port (RPT1:), by clicking “Port Setting…” and use the
following settings:
·In
the box labelled “Redirect this port to the program”, insert:
C:\gs\gs7.04\bin\gswin32c.exe
This
program (the command line GhostScript) will be used for the redirected
port program. (Note you may need to edit the path to suit the install):
·In
the box labelled “Arguments for this program are”, insert:
@C:\gs\pdfwrite.rsp -sOutputFile="%1"
-c save pop -f -
You need
to pass it the path of the pdfwrite.rsp file you created above (edit to
suit the install). It is important to include the trailing space and dash
- at the end of the command otherwise the printer window might hang.
·Change
the output to be "Prompt for
filename"
Click ok and close all printer
dialog boxes.
5.
Open
a previously-created word document to test. Make sure you have a safe
backup that you can restore in case you accidentally overwrite the
original with a pdf file – see item 7
6.
Choose
File/Print… but be sure to choose the pdfwriter printer option
7.
Save
the document with a sensible name - ensure the extension is .pdf.
Wait a few seconds while a DOS box
appears then disappears again.
That’s it! You should now have a
newly created document in pdf format that can be opened and read in
Acrobat® Reader®
8. Test
the created pdf document by opening it in Acrobat Reader.
Test various types of files
by opening them and printing them to the pdfwriter printer.
Experiment with features such as
printing two pages on one sheet side by side.
Restrictions:
- This
method might/might not create active hyperlinks (test it yourself!) or indexing.
- It
will not warn if you try to overwrite a file so make sure you can
retrieve the original file if necessary.
The PDF version of this tutorial (as converted
using this very method) can be found at http://www.wurvy.com/freepdfxp.pdf
and is about 465kb in size
All
copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged
|
