Creating a PDF

theonemanyuri · Oct 5, 2011

Not really sure where to put this so feel free to move it, I guess this is the most relevant place.

This might be a really stupid question, but as I've never done it before I thought I'd ask. How do you go about creating an illustrated PDF document? I can type up text in word and save it as a PDF, but I want to create a PDF where the page is fully formatted, background images, etc. I can create the images and stuff it's just the bringing it together. I know some of you on here sell ebooks so maybe you can shed some light? Even a pointer to a good guide would be much appreciated, not having much luck. Cheers

Aaron Clifford · Oct 5, 2011

I think you need Adobe Acrobat, I believe there may be some free alternatives out there however I've not used any to recommend.

theonemanyuri · Oct 5, 2011

I've got acrobat but ye you're right you can't create pdf's unless you get your wallet out. I was hoping to avoid paying if possible, it's not worth it for what I want to do. I'll DL some randoms and have a play. Cheers

Dizzy · Oct 5, 2011

try this one - always worked well for me.

http://www.freepdfconvert.com/

lomax · Oct 5, 2011

Just print the document and select "print to PDF" instead of your usual printer, assuming the free version of Acrobat is installed.

davedevelopment · Oct 5, 2011

Sounds like you really want something like

* Quark Express (commercial)
* Microsoft Publisher (commercial)
* Adobe InDesign (commercial)
* Scribus (free/open source)

Admin · Oct 5, 2011

I install CutePDF and then just use it as a virtual printer, so "print" to it and it will create a PDF file for you.

Admin

theonemanyuri · Oct 5, 2011

Nice one cheers everyone, I'll spend the day tomorrow looking at your suggestions. Much appreciated!

newguy · Oct 5, 2011

Dizzy said:
try this one - always worked well for me.

http://www.freepdfconvert.com/

I've used this site too. You can delete the file from their server after you've downloaded it. They automatically delete files after 24 hours anyway. I wouldn't use an online site for anything important though, as you can obviously never be 100% sure what happens to your data.