Program to convert to PDF

Have you created a series of graphics or a series of illustrations that you would like to collect in a PDF document but you don’t know how to do it? Have you been asked to convert some Office documents to PDF but the version of the Microsoft suite installed on your PC does not support this function? Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place at the right time.

With today’s guide we will try to find out, together, which is the program to convert to PDF that best suits your needs. Exact! There are several that you can rely on, all free and extremely simple to use. Some of them work as if they were printers and allow you to turn any printable content (Office documents, Web pages, presentations, images, etc.) into PDFs, while others are more focused on processing graphic files (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc.). ) and allow you to group multiple images within the same PDF file.

Whether you have a Windows PC, a Mac or a Linux-equipped computer I am convinced that you will find the software that can solve your problems. Maybe it’s the first one I want to talk to you about… keep reading and find out now.

Program to convert Office documents, web pages, etc. to PDF.

If you need to convert an Office document, a web page or any other “printable” document that is displayed on your computer to PDF, you can use a virtual PDF printer.

Virtual printers are software that, in fact, are seen by the system as if they were printers and therefore are able to process any printable content: from Office documents to Web pages, from images to presentations.

The most recent versions of Windows and Mac OS X include virtual PDF printers already “standard”, but there are also third-party software that allow you to implement them where they are not yet available. Read on if you want to know more.

PDF printer for Windows

Windows 10 is the first version of the Microsoft operating system to include a virtual PDF printer by default. This means that without installing additional software on your PC, you can open any web page or document and turn it into a PDF using the classic print function of the software in use (e.g. Chrome if you are viewing an Internet site or Word if you are drafting a document … even if in reality Word already includes the function to export documents to PDF).

If you have a PC equipped with Windows 10 and you want to take advantage of the operating system’s virtual printer to convert your documents, all you have to do is open the file to be transformed into PDF, call up the Print command from the File menu and select Microsoft Print to PDF from the list of available printers. That’s all!

Are you using an older version of Windows? No problem. In this case you can contact doPDF , a free virtual printer that can also be used for commercial purposes. To download it to your computer, connect to the official website and click on the Download now button twice in a row.

When the download is complete, open the dopdf– full.exe file you just downloaded on your PC, remove the check from the Install add-in for Microsoft Office option to disable the installation of the doPDF plugin for Microsoft Office (this is a function not you need) and click first on Install now and then on Yes and Close to complete the program setup

Now all you have to do is open the file (or web page) to be transformed into PDF and invoke the print command from the File menu . Then select doPDF from the list of available printers and click on the Print button .

In the window that opens, select the quality in which you want to save the PDF from the appropriate drop-down menu ( High quality for the highest quality, Medium for an intermediate quality and Smallest file for a minimum quality), click on the Browse button to choose the folder in which to export the PDF and click the OK button to get your document.

PDF printer for Mac

All the most recent versions of OS X can count on a virtual PDF printer included “standard” within the operating system. This means that if you are using a Mac, to convert a web page, a document or any other printable content to PDF, all you have to do is call the print function from the File menu .

Then you have to select the Save as PDF item from the PDF drop-down menu located at the bottom left and you have to choose the folder in which to export the document. That’s all!

Program to convert images to PDF

Do you need to insert a series of images within a single PDF document? Just ask. Here are some programs to convert all major graphic file formats to PDF : JPG, PNG, GIF etc.

XnView MP (Windows / Mac / Linux)

XnView MP is the latest version of XnView, a historical software for viewing, organizing and editing images. It is completely free (except for commercial purposes, in which case you need to purchase a license) and is compatible with all major computer operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

To download it on your PC, connected to its official website, scroll the page to the bottom and click on the Zip Win 32 bit button if you are using a 32 bit operating system or on the Zip Win 64 bit button if you are using a 64 bit operating system . In this way you will get the portable edition version of the software for Windows, which does not need to be installed in order to work. If you are using a Mac, instead of the “Zip Win xx bit” button, you have to click on the OSX 64 bit button .

When the download is complete, open the zip package you just downloaded on your PC (we’re talking about Windows), extract the contents in any folder and start the xnviewmp.exe executable . In the window that opens, click on the OK button and go to the Create> Multi-page file menu to start creating your document in PDF format.

A window will open in which you will have to insert all the images to include in your PDF. Then click on the Add button and select the files of your interest, or drag them directly into the XnView MP window. When the operation is complete, use the arrows located on the right to arrange the images in the order you prefer. Then select the Portable Document Format item from the drop-down menu located at the bottom right, press the button (…) to select the folder in which to save the final PDF, type the name you want to assign to the file in the File Name text field and click on the OK button to start exporting the document.

On operating systems other than Windows, the software works similarly. Only the installation procedure changes. For example, on Mac you need to drag XnView MP to the Applications folder of OS X and start the program by right clicking on its icon and selecting the Open item from the menu that opens.

Note: if you want to create a PDF file starting from multi-page graphic files, for example a TIFF file comprising multiple pages, put the check mark next to Insert all pages from original multi-page files before starting the export of the your PDF.

Preview (Mac)

If you’re on a Mac, you can turn JPG, PNG, GIF, and other types of graphic files into PDFs using Preview , OS X’s default software for viewing photos and PDFs.

All you have to do is open the first photo to insert into the PDF, activate the Thumbnails option from the View menu (top) and drag the rest of the images to insert into the PDF into the bar that appears on the side, in the Preview window.

When done, arrange the thumbnails of the images in the order you want to be kept in the final document. Then call up the print command from the File menu , select the Save as PDF item from the PDF drop-down menu located at the bottom left and choose the folder in which to save your document.

Online services to convert to PDF

In conclusion, I would like to point out a couple of online services that allow you to convert Office documents, images and other types of files to PDF without installing programs on your computer. They are completely free, work with all the most popular web browsers (eg Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) and protect the privacy of users by automatically deleting, a few hours after uploading, all the files that are uploaded to their servers. What are you waiting for to try them?

Online2PDF

A great web service dedicated entirely to PDFs, which I highly recommend you try, is  Online2PDF . Unlike SmallPDF, it has an upload limit: it allows you to upload a maximum of 20 files for a total weight of 100MB, but it is full of interesting features. It allows you to obtain PDF documents starting from all major graphic file formats, from Office documents and also from OpenOffice / LibreOffice files and supports the merging of multiple files into a single PDF document.

To use it, linked to its main page and drag the files to convert to PDF in the red box at the bottom. Then select the item  Convert files separately or Merge files from the drop-down menu  Mode (depending on whether you want to convert the files into many PDFs or into a single PDF) and click on the Convert button   to get your document.