.PDF Format

[TheOstrich]

I've just had the Devil's own game battling with EonNext to set up a Smart Export Guarantee Account, the sticking point being the forwarding to them of various documents they want.

Basically, we've fought ourselves to a standstill, but luckily they've just capitulated before my next move, which was to personally visit them in Nottingham with hard-copies of the offending items!

So all seems to be well, but for future reference, my question is this:

Can I convert a document to a .PDF format if I haven't subscribed to the paid version of Adobe Acrobat?
If so, what's the easiest way to (say) covert the text of an incoming email?

[Workingman]

Ossie, if you have a fairly recent version of MS Word (2007 on) you go to File>Save As and choose to save as a .pdf or alternatively you could choose File>Export and export it as a .pdf. Just remember their names and where you saved them.

Or you could download free Libre Office and use that the same way.

Alternatively there are numerous and free online converters.

For reading PDFs sent to you or as online forms, especially forms you need to fill in, you might need a free dedicated reader to get them to render correctly. Two of the best are Foxit Reader and PDF-Xchange editor. Just search for the free download versions.

Exporting gives you more options then just saving as and they render better.

Pt 2. Email. If what you need is an attachment to an email then open it in Word and do as above. If it is the actual text of the email that is required then open Word for a new .doc .docx. Go back to the email and click somewhere, anywhere. Now do the following keystrokes - Ctrl A, this will highlight all the text. Now Ctrl C to copy the text. Now go to your new Word doc(x), click in it and do Ctrl P, this will paste the text. After that do the same as said earlier.

[TheOstrich]

Many thanks, WM, I'll have a play around with the MSWord option.

[Workingman]

I'd still get a reader to see how they render. Word processers tend to be a bit old school generic.

They are also useful for downloading and reading .pdfs from t'Interweb.

[Suff]

If you have documents from others and a scanner, you can choose to save as PDF. My HP offers this option by default.

Also if you are viewing a document online in a web page you can choose print then save as PDF which Windows provides. So if any of the documentation is online and doesn't offer pdf download, you can do it this way.

[Workingman]

Most browsers have .pdf viewers but they download them in their own ways. Chrome is different from Edge, from Firefox from Opera. Close, but not quite.

I prefer an Adobe clone reader.

[Suff]

There is a free version of Acrobat 8 pro somewhere about. It has a key. Adobe gave it away free and gratis forever. Then hid the download and hid the key after a few years. It still works though. I just can't remember where i put it.

[Workingman]

Correction. There was, a sort of, free version of Acro 8. I have the download and the serial, but it no longer works. It's a behemoth and works no better than the slimmer modern free versions from other providers.

It was meant for registered users of the paid version, but freebie hunters like me got it anyway. Adobe eventually closed it down. I dropped it years ago.

[Suff]

I reinstalled that since 2020.