Create PDF files on my computer. The way we are going to do this is to:
- Create a virtual printer port
- Print to this new port
- Capture the printing data, and...
- Convert it into a PDF file.
Essentially, we create a new virtual printer that outputs PDF files. You don't have to understand what all this means; just follow the instructions below, and all should be OK.
By the way, this works under Windows only. I am using Windows XP, but this works under all versions of Windows (it should anyway...).
Free Software
The software we need is available for free - pure freeware, no adware or spyware. We will need at least 3 pieces of software:
- Ghostscript (we will call it GS from now on)
- Redmon
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (or any other viewer)
Download and install all three programs. Chances are that you already have Acrobat Reader. For this tutorial, I will assume that you have installed GS in C:\gs. The version I work with is 7.04, so I have a directory called gs7.04 in the C:\gs directory. If you use another version of GS, then the numbers will be different.
Installation Steps
In detail, this is what we are going to do:
- Create a new redirection port (which will be called RPT:1)
- Install a new printer driver to print to the new redirection port
- Use the redirection port to capture all of the printing data and send it to GS
- Let GS ask us for a file name to produce the PDF to
- And let GS produce the PDF file.
The first 3 steps happen in the same process, namely when we install the new printer driver.
Go to Control Panel, and select the Printers folder. If you already have printers installed, you will see them there. If not, it will be empty.
Click on the File menu, and select Add Printer. Follow the wizard, but note the following:
- Install a local printer
- Do NOT search for plug and play printers
- When choosing the port, select 'Create a new port', and select the type to be
- When you get to choosing the printer driver, you need to make sure you select a postscript capable driver. Also, it would help if the driver can print in colour. The one I like to use is the HP Color LaserJet 8550-PS. Experiment with several if you want. But whichever you choose, I suggest that you tweak the options to make sure it produces the best quality; this is usually called 'enhanced' or 'premium' or 'high quality'.
- Make sure you are printing to a file
Now you need to create a configuration file. I call mine pdfwrite.rsp, and I keep it in the C:\gs folder. The contents of this file are (just copy and paste from below; change the details to reflect your installation):
-IC:\gs\gs7.04\lib;C:\gs\fonts
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite
-r300
-dNOPAUSE
-dSAFER
-sPAPERSIZE=a4
It is a simple text file. So create a text file, paste the info into it, and then save it. Then rename the file.
The details of how you do the following vary with the operating system, but what you need to do is to configure the port so that:
- Redirect the port to a program (GS in our case). The full path on my installation:
C:\gs\gs7.04\bin\gswin32c.exe
- The arguments for the program are:
@c:\gs\pdfwrite.rsp -sOutputFile="%1" -c save pop -f -
Note the final space and dash; they are important.
- For the output, select Prompt for filename.
Now is a good time to mess with the options a bit to make sure the printer is printing in colour, and that you have selected the maximum printing quality.
The printer is done. You can now rename it to something meaningful, like PDFWriter or something. The file should open in Acrobat Reader without any problems.
Test it by printing out anything.
About the Author
Md.Imtiaz Ahmad is a senior SEO, Website Designer and freelancer with more than ten years of core experience in multimedia and graphic design, website optimization and Internet marketing.
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