PDF Writer programs - Which is the best one?

I'm looking for a nice (hopefully freeware) program that will convert .doc files into PDF format. I have looked at the Desktop Publishing section of Download.Com, and it lists Win2PDF, Print2PDF, PDF ReDirect, PDF-XChange Lite, PDFtypewriter and PDFill PDF Writer as applicable programs.

Most of these are shareware though, and I would prefer something that lasts longer than your average trial period. Has anyone here tried any of the above programs, or has something better to recommend?

Also, would diacritic fonts be an issue when creating PDF files? This file that I currently wish to make into a PDF does not contain diacritics and does not need any, but for the future diacritics may be a concern.

This probably isnt the answer you are looking for, but OpenOffice seems to have a PDFExport feature built into it. Its my office suite on Linux, and I know it works great under Windows. It opens 99% of the Word docs I throw at it. It can be found here http://www.openoffice.org/

As for diacritics, just make sure whatever PDF creation system you use, you can imbed the fonts in the PDF file. This will allow any viewer to show the diacritics in the correct font.

Thanks Dharmacakraji. I decided to take the plunge and I downloaded PDF ReDirect; it works very well as it installs itself as a printer driver. This makes it more easier when you are working on a document in MSWord for instance, you simply print it as usual, specify if you want to "print" through PDF ReDirect, and it will automatically create a PDF for you. Surprisingly very easy to use.

As far as fonts are concerned, I'm about to try that out. I printed a "first edition" of Kanupriya Gosvami's work with original Bengali spellings etc. I am thinking of updating that into a second edition with diacritics, proper verse transcriptions, etc. So let's see if this all comes out on PDF nicely.

One thing I would like to know though: Are Balaram and Tamal the only diacritic fonts out there? Isn't there anything else that is aesthetically pleasing as, say, Palantino Linotype or Garamond? It must be very boring if Balaram is the only one out there.

Its a question of encoding. Balaram uses a different encoding scheme than other fonts. So, A (a with bar above) in balaram is not in the same position on the character map as A in an Unicode font. Madhava's diacritic encoder will give you the ability to move around in different encodings. So, you can try out some Unicode fonts which may look better.

BTW, I've found that most Balaram family fonts print out pretty well... but they look horrible on the screen...

There are links to unicode font pages here in the tech section somewhere...

Here's a few...

http://orwell.ru/test/download/

No idea how complete these are... but its a start!

Madhavaji, I'd like to know how to achieve the "lightening" of the text (font) that you have in your PDF files, for example in the recent PDF you posted about siddha-pranali.

When I make PDFs, the text seems as if it was bold even though it is not, for if I made it bold then it would be even bolder! In essence, my PDF texts is too dark unlike yours. How to achieve the greyish lightening of the font? Is it something that you do regarding text colour or so?

If you like, I'll create a sample PDF and upload it here so you can see what I'm talking about.

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Hmm, I am at work and the network will not let me fool around with the printer setup. I'll have to create a sample when I get home.

No, I'm not touching the colors at all. I suspect it's just a question of the font. Try with the one I'm using and see if the result is the same. I used ScaGoudy for the one you mention as an example.

Yup.. thats it. Combined with a small font size. The document is in 10 pt size if I'm not mistaken... this probably contributes a bit to the lightening you see.

Looks good tho... its a pretty nice font overall...

Its available on this page in a zip file with a few other fonts.

I'm home and I've made a sample which is attached. You will see that I have written 'Radharani' in 10pt using several different fonts that I have, to see how it looks normal size.

'Radharani' is done again in 26pt so it can be seen a bit clearer.

After that, I have done the first para of Madhava's "siddha pranali" PDF in ScaGoudy font 10pt. You can see that it looks much darker than in Madhava's original PDF.

I would like to know why this is so? Is it something to do with the PDF program I'm using? I am using PDF ReDirect that I've referred to in a post above.

Which program are you using by the way, Madhavaji? And would it be available online?

P.S. I should also mention that while these fonts may look good on PDF, they look entirely different when printed out on paper. I recently printed out a 33-page e-book that I'd made which used Palantino Linotype, which looked good on PDF but not so good when printed out. It was very dark even on paper and the font looked too large (10pt!), I might consider reducing the font to 8 or 9pt in the next edition if people intend printing it out..

Make sure you are properly embedding the fonts in the pdf. When I look at your pdf's properties, it lists a bunch of fonts like TAA18o00, TAA13o00, etc. Madhava's pdf lists the correct font names... maybe there is a problem there?

On the flip side, your fonts look lighter to me

I have no clue! PDF ReDirect does the job automatically. Basically you write your stuff in a Word Doc or whatever (I have Microsoft Works, maybe that's the problem?), then you print it. Since I have no printer installed, the PDF RD driver will work and automatically "print" it for you, in other words it will automatically create the PDF of your Word doc. All you have to do is pick a filename, and it is all done for you.

I did notice something though. I tried copy-pasting a section from a finished PDF into a Word doc and that didn't happen, it pasted a bunch of weird box-characters. Maybe it is am embedding problem, maybe I should try another program perhaps. Which program do you use, Dharmacakraji?


Oh really? LOL, so at the end of the day maybe I am worrying about nothing.

You are still using Works?!? Ok, you need to go here & download OpenOffice. Its a just about perfect MS Office replacement, runs great on Windows & has a built in pdf converter that is fast. Opens MS Office documents great as well. Download the Beta for 2.0... works great for me. Check out screenshots here. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Works 7.0 It was a friend of mine who upgraded my PC to WinXP so I didn't have a say in the matter.

Hmmm.. I seriously need to clean up my PC because I have around 4GB of space left (of a 40GB HD), and this OpenOffice seems to be about 64MB, hmmm I'll give it a try.

Is there no other way to create good PDFs though? Do I have to download OpenOffice just for the sake of a good PDF-maker?

Well, no... you could get a copy of Adobe Acrobat. Not reader, but the full program. It creates a printer on your system that creates pdfs.. and you can tweak all the options.

Personally, I just thought you would want to move away from Works