Adobe Acrobat

[Sean Troy]

Hey all, does Adobe Acrobat allow you to change .txt, Pub. and other files to pdf format or does the file need to be created in Adobe to be a pdf file? Thanks for any info, Sean

[Adam Leming]

You can not just change the extension of a file to .pdf to make a pdf. You need Adobe or other program to create PDF's. I use a free program called cutePDF. It acts like a printer. You open a document you want to create a pdf and instead of selecting your normal printer, select the cutePDF printer.

[John Keeton]

I think there are several free programs that will convert Word and other files to .pdf, but the resulting .pdf file is normally not editable in .pdf format. I use one a lot to convert Word documents to be emailed in .pdf format in order to hide the metadata.

[Mike Null]

Most of the software I use will publish to PDF and depending on how you set them up they can be editable. (if you have the right software)

Some software I use that has this feature includes Corel, Engravlab, Quickbooks, Word, Excel.

[Dave Wagner]

You need to have a PDF WRITER type program. THen any software you have on your computer that you can PRINT to a printer, the PDF writer will install a Print Driver to capture the file and convert it directly to a PDF.

Standard PDF Readers do not allow changes.

HOWEVER, if the file has been LOCKED with security, you will NOT be able to either change, and/or copy, print etc.....depending on how it was setup originally and what options are selected for security.

We use Nuance PDFPlus and it works really well, faily cheap and has a OCR, for scanned documents and can convert back to MSWord, etc....
http://www.nuance.com/imaging/pdfconverter/pdfconverter-create.asp

[Eric DeSilva]

... in order to hide the metadata.

Just remember that Adobe creates its own metadata too... If you really want to erase your fingerprints, you need File->Document Properties->Additional Metadata and delete everything. The XML files it needs will be recreated, so I just kill it all.

[Sean Troy]

This is what I'm trying to do. I'm going to scan a LOT of paper documents to be stored and read online. I was thinking if they were all pdf format, they would all be consistent and easy to archive online. I have a free online program that will turn them to pdf but there is a limit on the number of documents I can do in a months time. thats why i was thinking of Acrobat, which by the way i wouldn't have to pay for. The club would. Thanks, Sean

[mike holden]

Sean,
Adobe Acrobat, not the reader, WILL input most forms of text files, most forms of spreadsheets, and most forms of graphic objects and transform them into *.pdf files.

That is what the program was designed to do.

Be aware that you should then make sure that formatting is correct, this is the one area that sometimes gets puckied up (technical term there - grin).

This would be a far better choice than an automated system as you can correct the format errors before uploading.

Mike

[Eric DeSilva]

This is what I'm trying to do. I'm going to scan a LOT of paper documents to be stored and read online.

You are *scanning* documents? What format is your scanner outputting? I use a Fujitsu SnapScan 1500 (which I highly recommend) and it outputs pdf files. My old scanner, a Canon I think, also output pdf files...

[glenn bradley]

Acrobat has many, many features that I don't use. I have landed on BullZIP as my PDF "printer" and Foxit instead of Adobe (less attacks and exploits).

[Jim Koepke]

Hey all, does Adobe Acrobat allow you to change .txt, Pub. and other files to pdf format or does the file need to be created in Adobe to be a pdf file? Thanks for any info, Sean

It seems there are almost two questions in here. I have done a little with creating portable document files, very little.

There is confusion caused by using different platforms and different applications/programs/software to do the same thing.

One of my writing programs allows the saving of documents as a .pdf through the printing dialog. My understanding is that others do this. When one chooses print from the menu or through key strokes, a dialog like this appears:

153616

It gives the option to save the file as a .pdf. I have been able to change these in the past with the software that was used to create the document.

I am not sure if the Tech Support conference might garner some more information.

jim

[Randal Stevenson]

One more option to look at, is Open Office.

[Larry Browning]

You are *scanning* documents? What format is your scanner outputting? I use a Fujitsu SnapScan 1500 (which I highly recommend) and it outputs pdf files. My old scanner, a Canon I think, also output pdf files...

+1 on what Eric said. Every scanner I have ever used always has the option to save as a pdf file. This is the approach I would take. If you save your documents as pdf as you scan them in, there is no further conversion needed. Seems like a no-brainer to me, unless I am missing something. (Which is a pretty common occurrence for me!)

[Sean Troy]

Thanks all, my printer does a great job of saving the scans as a pdf file. I never knew. Thanks, Sean