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PDF Creation

I'd be willing to guess that, unless you do it at work, you probably never create your own PDF documents. And the fact that Acrobat Standard will cost you $299 is a pretty good reason to only create PDFs at work, or not at all. But there are plenty of good reasons to create PDFs at home - universal compatibility with other people's computers and a compact way to archive documents, just to name a couple. Now for the good news: you can easily create PDFs from any program on your computer that can print, and you can do it 100% free. I tried three of these free PDF creators. They all work by simply installing themselves as a printer on your computer. When you want to create a PDF, just open a file using any program that can print, choose the PDF printer, and then choose a location to output the PDF. While the PDF output was nearly identical from all three, I had slightly different experiences with each of them.

CutePDF

CutePDF installs as a print driver in Windows. Just choose print from any application, choose OK, and then a dialog box like the one below will appear asking where you'd like to save the resulting PDF. I really like the way that the small text ad at the bottom of the dialog box is very unobtrusive. You might not even notice it. CutePDF has no frills, but it does the job without bothering you in any way. My only gripe about CutePDF is that you have to download a free "converter" in addition to the installation program. Not a big deal, but if you're on a slow internet connection, this could be an issue. You can download the free version of CutePDF here.

CutePDF is very unobtrusive and does the job well.

pdfMachine

pdfMachine installs just like CutePDF - as a printer. It also creates very decent PDFs. The problem with pdfMachine is that after you click OK on the print dialog box, a "pdfMachine White" application opens and a File Download box appears asking if you'd like to open or save the PDF. The first time I created a PDF with pdfMachine, I was very confused. Why did I have to download a file to create a PDF? I'm really not sure why it takes that route, but if you just click Open, the PDF is shown and you can then save it. The pdfMachine White application has a bunch of options that you can't use without upgrading to the paid version. A "Get extra features" button and ad with moving text adorns the top of the program. I really can't complain with the PDF output of pdfMachine, but I could really go without another program (with ads) opening itself up. You can download the free version of pdfMachine here.

pdfMachine opens up its own application and then asks if you want to open or save the PDF file download. Why? I really don't know.

PrimoPDF

PrimoPDF also installs as a printer. When you click OK on the Print dialog box, you get the PrimoPDF dialog shown below. While it does contain a banner, it's nothing too drastic. PrimoPDF rises above the others by giving you extra options. You can choose whether you are creating a PDF for a computer screen, for print, for an EBook, or prepress and PrimoPDF will automatically optimize the PDF output. Clicking on Document Properties gives you the option of adding a title, author, subject, and keywords. This information is embedded in the PDF and "results in faster and easier searching of PDF documents." PrimoPDF truly outshines its free competitors with its security features. It gives you password security with the highest level of encryption, as well as options to disallow users from printing your PDF, copying text or graphics, adding comments, or changing the PDF in any way. These features can be very beneficial to someone that is creating PDFs for business purposes. With its hassle-free installation, simple interface, and extra features, PrimoPDF has earned its place in the computer of the Geeky Jock and therefore earns the GeekyJock.com Certification. You can download PrimoPDF here.

PrimoPDF is easy to use, and gives you some great advanced options.

PrimoPDF