The Forge Archives

Can someone tell me what resources are involved and how I would go about making a PDF file? I'm currently working with Microsoft Word out of sheer lack of knowledge of what else can be used that may make my life easier creating my book.

Thanks,
Sylus

Hey Sylus - there's a lot of threads that have already occured on The Forge that you should read, and once you've done so, you'll probably have some more questions and a better idea of what you're looking for. So, I'd suggest you check out:

* Composing Documents
* Free DTP Software (Pageplus 5)
* Learning TeX?
* PDF Size?
* Layout and DTP
* Quark vs. Pagemaker
* Any experiences with FinePrint PDF software?
* Problems with PDFs
* Cheap PDF Solution

Whew - that's a lot of links. I went back to about April 2002 to find those; I'm sure there's more, but I don't have all day. :-)

Read all the way to the bottom? Here's your short answer: Adobe Acrobat - it includes a plugin that will directly print a MS Word file to PDF. You can then touch up the PDF file in Acrobat.

You don't happen to be on a Mac with OSX by any chance? If so then PDF is a snap.

Mike

Clinton also mentions some solutions in his "how to publish an rpg cheap" article over in the articles section.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/14/

I'm on an IBM clone so I guess I'll have to do it the hard way. :) Thanks for the links and tips guys. I let you know if I have any success or further questions.

Sylus

Right now I'm working on following the excellent advice of Quillio.com.  He's always on the lookout for free solutions to this problem.  Good luck!

Fang Langford

I haven't tried that software, but do note that the person writing the article seems slightly misinformed; for example, he says "If it really is the same folks I'll happily send them my twenty bucks, as thanks for busting the PDF file format wide open.", when in reality, the PDF format is already open, and Adobe provides tons of documentation so third parties can create libraries and applications that generate PDF files.

it might be buried in one of those forum threads that Adam posted, but here is the easiest way to convert MS Word to PDF:

Create Adobe PDF Online

I don't use it, because I set up Ghostscript and a port redirecter on my system, but I've heard that it works great.

Well, I ordered relevant software, but not the software everyone seems to be expecting. I'm getting Seriif PagePlus 8 PDF, mainly becuase they offered me a spectacularly good deal on a suite that includes layout, PDF, photo editing (PhotoPlus 8), vector graphics (DrawPlus 7) and a web utility (WebPlus 8) that I'll probably never use because it won't load my existing pages.

I won;t know whether the $50 I spent will be worth it until I learn the software and actually do some stuff with it.

Michael,

Good choice. Small companies using other small companies (with damn wonderful products) = happiness.

Quote from: Sylus ThaneCan someone tell me what resources are involved and how I would go about making a PDF file? I'm currently working with Microsoft Word out of sheer lack of knowledge of what else can be used that may make my life easier creating my book.

Method 1, if you have access to a unix machine:

Print or save as postscript.  Use ps2pdf on the unix box to create a pdf.  Or just use pdflatex to begin with.

Method 2, using windows, not for the faint of heart:

This method is complicated, but costs $0.

It is possible to install gs (ghostscript, a postscript and pdf manipulation utility), then install any old postscript printer driver (Apple LaserWriter is a good one), then redirect the printer output through gv causing it to output a PDF.

http://www.webxd.com/zipguy/freepdf.htm for more info.