170 Spoons

Make Your Default Printer a PDF Writer

WHY? You can make free PDF documents faster by making it your default printer.

PDF files are the files that you usually use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. A PDF document is nice because it’s almost like a screen shot but better.

Unfortunately the ability to create a PDF file probably isn’t already installed for you. But don’t worry, it’s very easy to do. There are several options available. Some are expensive and some are free. So let’s talk about one of the free ones I use.

Install Free PDF Writer
The program I’ve used for a while is PDFCreator. However, lately it hasn’t been as reliable and I’m not sure why. I’ve recently switched to CutePDF Writer. Simply go to the CutePDF Writer download page and, well, download it! Double-click the .exe file and let it go. Note: You may need to download the converter file but when I installed CutePDF, I didn’t need to.

Set PDF Writer as Default Printer
If you make your PDF writer your default printer, when you are in just about any program and click the Print icon, a PDF file will be created instead of printing on paper.

In order to create a PDF file, you actually “print”. In other words, once installed, CutePDF Writer is one of your printer options when you try to print. With PDF files, you don’t “save” the file, you “print” just like a normal printer.

To set it as your default printer first go to your list of printers (click Start, then Printers in the menu). When you see your printers, right-click CutePDF Writer and chose “Set as default printer”.

I like this better because if I accidently click Print I don’t waste paper — I can just delete the file. Also, there are some programs that check to make sure the default printer is installed any time you just hover over the Print icon. When this happens, I have had experience when on a network my computer slows down to check the network for the printer.

View PDF Files Quickly
As mentioned earlier, you need a PDF reader to read a PDF. Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most popular. But let me tell you, that program is slow! There are other programs that run much faster and are just as good.

For instance, I use Foxit Reader and love it. There are plenty others so feel free to try out something faster than Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Other PDF Writer Options
Now, this is a bit different but there are some online ways to create PDF files. One is to upload a file and it will email you the PDF. If you use Google Docs (a topic for another time) you can export as a PDF. If you use Open Office (another later topic) you can print as a PDF without another program.