Virtual PDF printer

Have you ever heard of virtual printers? These are software that pretend to be printers and allow you to process any type of printable content, such as Office documents, Web pages and images, saving the final result as an external file. The most common are those for PDF files which, in fact, allow you to take any printable content, be it a Web page, a text file or a series of images, and transform it into a PDF file that can be played on any device and in any application suitable for the purpose.

The diffusion of these solutions is so wide that today there is a virtual PDF printer included in almost all smartphones and tablets on the market. Do not you believe it? Then check carefully in the print (or sharing) settings of your devices: I’m sure you will find an ad hoc option to export the contents displayed on the screen. The great thing is that it’s all free, with no annoying page marks and no other limitations whatsoever!

Obviously the same goes for computers as well. Now all the most recent versions of Windows, macOS and Linux include a special function and even on the older versions of these operating systems it is possible to print documents, Web pages and images in PDF format by downloading the appropriate software available for free on the Net. How do you say? Would you like to know more? Well then read on, because you find the information you need right below!

Index

• Windows 10 virtual PDF printer
• Windows 7 virtual PDF printer
• Mac PDF virtual printer
• Linux virtual PDF printer
• Android PDF virtual printer
• Virtual iOS / iPadOS PDF printer
• Other solutions to print to PDF

Windows 10 virtual PDF printer

If you need a virtual PDF printer and are using a PC equipped with the Windows 10 operating system, I have great news for you: you can print any type of PDF content without downloading additional software. All you need is the special tool included “standard” in the latest operating system from Microsoft, usable through any application with the print command.

This means that you can export any content of your interest to PDF simply by viewing it on the screen, calling the print command (usually accessible via the File menu ) and choosing the Microsoft Print to PDF option or the Save as PDF option from the list of available printers.

Let’s take a practical example immediately: if you want to print a Web page displayed in Chrome in PDF, all you have to do is click on the button with the three vertical dots located at the top right, select the Print item from the menu that opens and choose the ‘ Save as PDF option from the list of available printers.

After completing the above steps, adjust the “print” settings (eg margins, pages to keep, etc.) as you see fit and start exporting your PDF by clicking on the Save button.

Windows 7 virtual PDF printer

If you are using Windows 7 or anyway a version of Windows earlier than 10 , there is no tool already included in the OS that acts as a virtual PDF printer, which is why you have to turn to third-party solutions, as in the case of doPDF. It is, in fact, a completely free PDF virtual printer for both personal and commercial purposes.

To get it, first connect to the doPDF official website and then click on the DOWNLOAD DOPDF (FREE) button located on the displayed page. At this point, you will be redirected to the Soft112 website and automatically, after a few seconds of waiting, the download of the client for installing the software will start.

When the download is complete, open the dopdf-full.exe file you just obtained and proceed with the installation of the virtual printer, selecting Italian from the drop-down menu for choosing the language at the top left and pressing the Install Now button. Finally, click on the Launch button and visit site.

If you do not want to install the doPDF add-in for Microsoft Office (which is not essential for the operation of the printer within Word, Excel and company), remove the checkmark from the Install add-in for Microsoft Office item in advance. . The same applies to anonymous statistics: if you prefer not to send them, before proceeding with the installation, deselect the appropriate option. Furthermore, if during the setup you are also offered to install the Microsoft.NET Framework, you agree to this, as it is an indispensable component to properly use the software.

Once the installation is finished, the configuration panel for the doPDF virtual printer will open automatically. Through this panel you can adjust any printing preferences. For example, try clicking the Preferences button to select horizontal or vertical printing orientation. Once you have applied your printing preferences, or to leave the settings by default, close this panel by pressing the Close button.

Mission accomplished! Now you can print to PDF from any application with a print function, proceeding in the same way as I indicated in the previous step for Windows 10, but taking care to select doPDF from the list of available printers.

Mac PDF virtual printer

Do you use a Mac? Even then, you can find a virtual PDF printer included “standard” in macOS, without the need to resort to third-party applications to transform documents, photos or web pages into PDF.

All you have to do is open the web page or file you would like to convert to PDF (using any application suitable for the purpose) and call the Print command from the File menu in the bar located at the top of the screen.

In the window that will later open, expand the PDF drop-down menu located at the bottom right, select the item Save as PDF from the latter, indicate the destination folder of the document you want to create and the name you want to assign and click on the Save button. Easy, right?

Before starting the export of the file, you can also adjust the various “print” settings, such as the number of pages to keep, their orientation, the zoom level, etc.

Linux virtual PDF printer

Even if you are using a Linux- based PC, and more precisely on Ubuntu (which is one of the most popular Linux distros) you can take advantage of a virtual PDF printer already included in the operating system.

To be able to use it, just open the document, the Web page or in any case the element you want to transform into PDF, access the menu of the program in use, select the command for printing and, through the box that opens, indicate the position in which to save the final document. Finally, choose the Print to file option from the list of available printers and press the Print button.

Android PDF virtual printer

Do you own an Android device and would like to understand if even in this case it is possible to take advantage of a virtual PDF printer? Well, as mentioned at the beginning of the post, these tools are now also included in the operating systems for smartphones and tablets.

In the specific case of the mobile platform in question, you can export any printable content in PDF by opening it, by tapping on the sharing icon or by selecting the Share item from the menu of the app in use and recalling the print command from the menu that appears.

Then, choose the Save to PDF option or the Save as PDF option from the menu for choosing the printer, press the PDF button located at the top right and select the location on your device to export the document.

Let’s take a practical example right away. If you want to print a web page in PDF, open the browser you usually use to browse the Internet and connect to the page you want to export to PDF. Then, click on the share button (which can be represented by the icon of three dots connected to each other or by the Share item in the app menu), select the print icon from the box that opens and choose the Save option to PDF or Save as PDF from the printer selection menu (top). Finally, tap the PDF button located at the top right and indicate the folder to export the document to.

Virtual iOS / iPadOS PDF printer

A virtual PDF printer is also included on iOS / iPadOS to be used when needed to export web pages, emails, photos and other content to PDF directly from iPhone and iPad.

To use it, all you have to do is view the Web page, the photo or any other content you want to export to PDF, click on the sharing icon (the one with the square with the arrow going upwards ), select the item Create PDF from the box that opens, and specify the location to save the document.

If the item Create PDF is not available, select the Print option and, in the screen that is shown later, perform a two-finger zoom on the thumbnail of the item to be transformed into PDF, then tap on the icon of the share placed at the top right and choose, from the menu that opens, the location or app to export the final document.

Other solutions to print to PDF

To conclude, I want to point out some alternative solutions that allow you to export documents in PDF format without resorting to external virtual printers. This means that they allow you to save documents in PDF format even if there is no virtual printer installed on your device.

• Microsoft Office– starting from version 2010, the Microsoft productivity suite allows you to export documents in PDF format without resorting to external software. All you have to do is open the document to save as PDF, click on the File button located at the top left, select the Export item from the left sidebar and click on the Create PDF / XPS button. Then, you need to select the PDF item from the Save as drop-down menu, choose the folder to export the file and complete the procedure by clicking on the Publish For more information on the use of Office, I refer you to reading my guide on the subject.
• LibreOffice– is an excellent free productivity suite. It represents the best “free” alternative to Microsoft Office and is compatible with all major PC operating systems: Windows, macOS and Linux. Among its many functions, there is also the one to export documents in PDF format, which can be easily recalled by selecting the Export to PDF option from the File menu. After calling the PDF export command, the software allows you to set the quality, resolution and other properties of the output file. Finally, by clicking on the Export button, you can choose the folder in which to save the document. I told you more about this program in my guide on how to download LibreOffice.
• Online services to save PDF files– if you don’t want to install any software on your PC and/or you don’t have a virtual PDF printer to rely on on your device, you can convert Office documents and images to PDF using some handy online services. I told you more about it in my guides on how to convert Word to PDF for free and how to transform photos to PDF.