Does anyone know how to convert a Word file to a PDF?

Kerry

Hi TB'ers!

Firstly, thanks so much to those of you who helped this newbie over her cover design issue. Tessadragon, I'll be sending a "whisper" to you shortly!

Bit of a warning - I think I just got caught up in a scam by a US-based company called Software-HQ.net
I thought I was signing up for Adobe Pro something or other (gosh, I'm so non-technical) - instead they've charged me $81.26, for something called 'downloading and support' which was meant to be £9.99 a year for 3 years. Intend to take it up with the credit card company. Also, they state on their sales page, you can get a refund within 14 days - but the small print states you can only do this if there is a technical problem and you have been unable to access their site! Too late!!

Anyhow, now I've had my rant . . . do any of you kind, helpful people know a simple way of converting a Word document (a novel) to a PDF file. And do I need some kind of Adobe (or similar) download to do it - or is there another way. I don't intend getting ripped-off again!!

Best, Kerry.

Tessadragon

*wince* yep good luck sorting that out....when it comes to adobe, be careful what you buy. All the programs are expensive so it's best to look at how much you'll actually use them, sometimes it's cheaper to break into a university's graphic design lab and use the apple macs there, and that includes the legal fees for when the police come knocking.
Adobe Indesign
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
those are the main programs to use.
Sometimes there's Quark XPress too, (personally i hate that program though i managed to find a free old copy with a magazine that helped infinitely when i was studying)
sometimes though the 'juvenile programs' are equally as good...ulead photo express has been useful and far less expensive.

Tessadragon

eek forgot that the subject line is actually how to convert a word file to a pdf....
let's see...Adobe Reader is the one that will open pdfs...so it's Adobe Acrobat that'll convert word files to pdf. as listed on the amazon page http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-1131839-0378319?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=adobe+acrobat

Aegean

Hi Kerry

Sorry to read you seem to have not received value for the payment you made.

The following methods will both work for you and cost you nothing.

The first is the easiest but you would need to download open office from the net.
You can download it here http://www.openoffice.org/

It is free to use and easy to install. It is also a very good tool in it's own right.
Assuming you have downloaded and installed OpenOffice....

OpenOffice includes a PDF writer that is built into the word processor application, making it simple to create PDF documents from scratch, cut & paste PDF files or convert any documents into a PDF in just a few seconds. Many people that need PDF availability have both MS Office and OpenOffice running on the same computer. However, if you don't have the room or the inclination, there are other free ways to convert your .doc files to .pdf files.

So........ if you do not want to install OpenOffice (it is pretty good for nothing though)

This will also work...

Install Adobe Acrobat Reader (also free). Most computers already have this application loaded, if it is already loaded, you can move to step 2.

2.Install a driver for a postscript printer. In order to create PDF files, you will need to have a driver that corresponds with a post script printer. It doesn't matter that you do not have a printer hooked up to your computer or if a printer is already hooked up to your computer, in order to convert your documents, you will need to load a printer driver that is compatible with postscript.
3.Add the driver by going to your Start/ Control Panel/ Printer and Faxes and then click add a Printer. When choosing a printer make sure you select Local Printer and make sure that the printer port is File.
4.From this point you can add an actual printer driver, one of the printer drivers that many people use for this purpose is the HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS, but please note that any printer driver that is compatible with postscript will do.
5.Download and Install two free programs, Ghostscript (found at http://www.ghostscript.com) and GSview (also found at http://www.ghostscript.com)
6.Now that you have your printer installed and the two free programs installed, you can now start the conversion process. In order to convert .doc to .pdf print the file you want to convert in MS Word. When MS Word asks you which printer to use, select the postscript printer that you installed the driver for. Once you select Print, a filename box should come up; it will ask you to name the file. When naming the file enter the name, but do not add the extension .doc. Instead use the extension .ps (i.e. joefile.ps) once the name is entered, click OK. You now have a postscript version of your original file.
7.Open GSview and find the file you saved as .ps, now double click on the file, it should launch in GSview. Once the file is launched in GSview, click File/ Convert and you will see a dialogue box. The dialogue box will pop up, choose pdf write and then choose the resolution; usually most people choose the highest resolution. Now select the OK button, a new file dialogue box should come up and ask you to name the file, but now add the extension .pdf (for instance joefile.pdf)
8.Your file is now converted. You should be able to click on joefile.pdf and Adobe Acrobat Reader will be able to open your file.


If you are not happy with either of the above there are numerous programmes you can buy that do the same job, but really they basically do the same as open office does for free. If you prefer a purchased programme just let me know and I will suggest a few for you to buy.

Hope this is of some help

Tessadragon

excellent Aegean, i'd known nothing of those methods! (so i'll be storing away the knowledge for the future, and it's best to discard what i've said about adobe acrobat reader, as Aegean's advice is far more economic.)

dorothyd

In Word, you go to print and where the options are for the printer, pick the Adobe Acrobat one. Then let it go. It converts on its own. I do this all the time with files at work. It actually says Acrobat PDF Writer, I just checked, or it does on mine, anyway! You should not need to download anything to do that if you have Acrobat already.

Tessadragon

i looked through Microsoft Word's options and could find nothing about converting a file to pdf...when i checked in the Help, it says that you have to get a 3rd party product in order to do that task http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/word/HA011683331033.aspx?pid=CL100636481033

dorothyd

It could be a different version of Word, the one I have here, which came with XP, has the Acrobat option in the drop down menu and that is the way I do the work in the office.

Kerry

Guys,

Thank you so-o-o much. You've rescued me again!