Print-to-PDF utilities that work with Windows 10?

Sorry, this is unrelated to Trainz or hardware, but I'm hoping some computer-savvy Trainzer might know an answer to this.

Win 10 comes with Microsoft Print-To-PDF but I've found it sometimes creates PDF's that have no content or can't be opened by Adobe Reader due to format errors. Also it doesn't allow saving the PDF to a folder and filename of my choosing. It just dumps every PDF in the system Downloads folder under a name of it's own choosing which then requires extra work in File Explorer to rename and put the PDF's where I want.

Primo PDF always worked well in the past, but looks like it hasn't been updated for Win 10 since it now has a warning that it can't find some file in a system folder that doesn't exist in Win 10. Consequently, it's output is now only sometimes successful. I haven't had much luck in finding an alternative, free PDF printer for Win 10 so far.

Does anyone know of one that works reliably in Win 10?

I've had pretty good luck with this one.

http://www.dopdf.com/

It comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions, but I have not
tried it in Win10. It does work great in Win7.

-AL

Thanks AL

The page in that link for doPDF claims it's for Win 10 and several previous versions of Windows, but the downloading service page only mentions up to Win 8. I will give it a try and see what gives.

~ Dino

Hi!

Try this:
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php
I use it for years, and I am so satisfied with it. Freeware.

Krisz

I have had no problems opening up Microsoft-generated PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. Ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat Reader installed. That said, I'm not sure you want the Adobe overhead clutter on your system either as that can add to more things running in the background.

The problem is it will write to the last folder you visited, which is annoying so you have to remember to change or check the folder before you use it. Naming the file on save (Print) shouldn't be a problem. When I've used this, it brings up a blank name where I type in whatever I named. I just have to watch where it's being saved to though.

In the past, I have used the same utility that Krisz mentions and others including Primo, and doPDF. doPDF should work fine for you. If it works with Windows 8.1, then it will work fine with Windows 10. I have found that with everything I have installed so far, including older applications written for Windows 7, though XP stuff gets questionable.

John

Did not read you request close enough gave you the wrong information. Sorry.

JCitron said:

I have had no problems opening up Microsoft-generated PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. Ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat Reader installed. That said, I'm not sure you want the Adobe overhead clutter on your system either as that can add to more things running in the background.

The problem is it will write to the last folder you visited, which is annoying so you have to remember to change or check the folder before you use it. Naming the file on save (Print) shouldn't be a problem. When I've used this, it brings up a blank name where I type in whatever I named. I just have to watch where it's being saved to though.

In the past, I have used the same utility that Krisz mentions and others including Primo, and doPDF. doPDF should work fine for you. If it works with Windows 8.1, then it will work fine with Windows 10. I have found that with everything I have installed so far, including older applications written for Windows 7, though XP stuff gets questionable.

John

Click to expand...

Yes, well of course none of this should be a problem, but it is.

I do have the latest version of Adobe Reader.

My experience with the MS print-to-PDF is not the same as yours apparently. The Print button you see at the bottom just creates the PDF and always sends it to the Documents system folder (I wrongly said Downloads folder before). No dialog box follows from it, there no chance to name the file or choose a destination folder for it. The 'more settings' doesn't have anything to change that either.



Most of the time Adobe can read the PDF's, but I've had a couple that turned out to be empty 1kb files and can't be opened by Adobe. Something to do with printing from Windows Edge maybe?

Primo worked flawlessly for me in Win 7 and Win 8, but not under Win 10 - some folder it expects to be in the OS is not there now.

I just hope that Bullzip or doPDF offer more reliable alternatives.

Hi Dino

What I have just tried is to open the .pdf in Internet Explorer.

It asked if I wanted to save it so I said yes and it saved it into the Downloads folder.

Dennis (DeRiCo)

GP30Fan said:

I've had pretty good luck with this one.

http://www.dopdf.com/

It comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions, but I have not
tried it in Win10. It does work great in Win7.

-AL

Click to expand...

Finally had an opportunity to print a payment receipt from Win 10 Edge to a PDF using doPDF. Worked like a charm.

Unlike Microsoft's Print-to-PDF, the Print button now triggers a dialog box where I can give it a filename and select a folder I want to save it to. I'm staggered that MS didn't include such a basic and necessary feature in their PDF printer.

Thank you AL.

Glad that worked out for you.

Now, do yourself a favor and ditch Adobe Reader.

Several years ago, I attended a computer conference in Cleveland Ohio where the fellow
spent about 45 minutes explaining Adobe Reader. After 45 minutes, he said, "Now forget
all I have said about Reader.

Uninstall it! Get rid of its overhead, and install Foxit Reader. I've used Foxit Reader ever since.

It's a much smaller overhead, and IMO, faster by far.

https://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/

Try it!

-AL

Well your advice has a perfect record so far, so I'll give it a try.

I hadn't noticed any slowness or overhead with Adobe Reader, but then I wasn't really looking. Having said that, it's good to have alternatives in case one has a problem.

Just a plug for Foxit reader. I have been using it for3 or 4 years and they have been excellent about updating and adding features. You won't regret using it.
I only found one thing that could only be opened by Adobe and that is our states tax forms they must have some deal with Adobe preventing any other PDF reader from working.

leo655annst said:

Just a plug for Foxit reader. I have been using it for3 or 4 years and they have been excellent about updating and adding features. You won't regret using it.
I only found one thing that could only be opened by Adobe and that is our states tax forms they must have some deal with Adobe preventing any other PDF reader from working.

Click to expand...

Adobe has some security features that can be embedded into PDF files which may cause this issue, and others too that allow form-writing which do not work well with other reader-applications.

In the past I've used Foxit and it was my reader of choice for years. More recently, however, I've run into issues where paging through documents can be an issue with it as it wasn't fast enough for my needs. I use PDF-based sheet music displayed on a big Dell 18-inch tablet computer as a major replacement of my music books. Adobe Acrobat was okay, but it didn't work that well. The Windows 8.x reader was okay, but also did weird things. In the end I found Xodo Reader, which allows saving preferences per document so some are landscape while other are portrait for example. This works out the best because of the formatting of some of the sheet music changes depending upon when it was published and or how it was scanned.

So perhaps Foxit is great for general use, but not for the special use functions that I need for music. And to add I have run into performance issues with Adobe Reader installed. It's one of those applications that likes to put in network links for updating and what not and all kinds of crap in the start-up. Why? All we want to do is read documents, and not feed the rest of the world with data.

John