At this point in time (Windows only), unless you already own something like the full Adobe Acrobat, you should get the free "PDFCreator" from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
It has everything you need: One-shot no-brainer installation from a single self-installer, all necessary support files included, creates PDF from any application that can print (including NWC), embeds fonts if requested.
All of that has been discussed earlier on this forum. But I just noticed that the program has two more features: It can combine two PDF documents into a single PDF, and it can save a PDF with encryption (so that a password is needed to open the document).
Unless you need workgroup capabilities (you would know it, if you did), PDFCreator does the job. I use it all the time.
Me too. Started using it 3 monhs ago. Before that I had to go through the thing with printing to a postscript printer and all that. I wondered where PDFCreator had been all my life.
The only beef I have about PDF creator is the amount of time it takes to save a file in PDF format. That can take 10 or 15 minutes for a 2 or 3 page part on a reasonably fast computer. So when printing out all the parts for a band, you end up with a print cue that takes a couple of hours. You're tied to your machine because it's a two stage process - first "printing" to PDF, then saving the new PDF file. You also can't cancel in the middle of a process, so if you realize you've made a mistake, you can run the same print job, but have to deal with the print you want to abort before saving the good one. And wait the requisite pdf file creation time first. Sigh.
PDF format?
PDF format?
Portable Document Format format?
C'mon!
print cue?
print cue?
print queue!
Sheesh! you're picky, aren't you?
David: The default printer resolution in PDFCreator is 1200 dpi. That's probably a lot finer than you need. Have you tried changing it to 600dpi? That's plenty, for anything less than photos. I don't know if that will help, but it's worth a try.
Thanks, Robert, I'll give that a try. It makes sense.
Hi again Richard. Just checked, and I've had PDFCreator set ot 600 dpi all along.
Oops, Robert, not Richard. The popup window covered all except the first letter of your name, and I wasn't paying attention. Sorry.
Another approach to getting PDF output is to use OpenOffice 1.1 (from openoffice.org) - a free Office suite that supports PDF export.
I Preview my NWC score, copy to clipboard, paste into OpenOffice and export as PDF - voila. I can now share my scores with friends, as Acrobat Reader is free.
Simon
If you use Open Office, be sure you are using version 1.1 (or later, if there is a later version). The first time that Open Office added PDF export in version 1.0.x, it did not properly handle all fonts. To be sure that your PDF is OK, open it in Acrobat Reader, and inspect it at a variety of magnifications.