The Four-eyed Journal » AbiWord

5 Free tools to create PDF files

jhay — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:54:26 +0000

We’ve been downloading, sharing and printing documents and files of various types we get from the Internet in pdf format for so long we’ve been accustomed to doing just that: download, share and print those files that are ‘encased’ in the .pdf format.

So when the time comes that we ourselves need to create a .pdf file, we find our selves in a very strange and unfamiliar world. A question pops into mind, how do we create or transform a file into the handy pdf format so that we could securely and conveniently share it to the world?

Sure there’s Adobe Acrobat Standard that will let us create pdf files with ease, simplicity and with a professional touch, but are we casual netizens willing to spend almost $200 for a piece of software we would only use from time to time?

Fear not for there are a lot of alternative ways to create our very own pdf files and 98% of the time, it would be totally free, fast and convenient. A Google search would turn up hundreds of free alternatives ranging from plugins to M$ Office, programs that convert files to pdf formats, to free online services that do the conversion for you.

Here are some of the 5 most convenient alternative ways to create our very own pdf files:

Google Docs – Google’s version of an online document creator. It’s part of the Google Apps suite which is their version of the online office productivity suite. It comes with every regular Gmail or Google Apps account. If you’re not happy with its document creating-capabilities, it could be slow and buggy at times, just create your document on your desktop, upload it into Google Docs and export it in PDF format. All these will take no more than ten minutes depending on your connection speed and the size of the file itself.
ZohoWriter – another online document creator from the Zoho online office productivity suite from AdventNet, Inc. It is for free, just sign up for an account, verify your email address you signed up with and you’re on your way to online productivity. From my experience, ZohoWriter has a more intuitive interface with more features that resembles M$ Word or any other offline document creator. It’s less buggy and more robust than Google Docs so working with it would be a lot less frustrating. Of course, after you’re done creating your document or uploading it, simply export it as a pdf file and it’s happy days for you.
Doc2PDF – is simply a document to PDF conversion service from PDFOnline.com. The site is actually a demonstration of their easyPDF software which I really didn’t looked into since it wasn’t for free. Going back, Doc2PDF doesn’t require users to signup for an account. Simply head on to their conversion page, upload your document directly to their website, rename the file to suit and lastly enter an email address where you want the converted pdf file to be sent because that’s the only way you’ll get the file for free.
Spam or scam alter right? Relax, for they offer a very good tip. Your personal email is not required, you could just create a new one via Gmail, Yahoo! or whatever free email service and use this email solely for this purpose. If you’re not going to use their service or would use something else, simply close that email account or simply forget about it. You avoid more spam and have converted your documents into pdf format, what else would you ask for?
OpenOffice Writer – This is one of the most popular alternative to M$ Word and its parent suite, the ‘industry standard’ M$ Office. It’s free to download, install and share with everyone else because it’s Open Source. In fact, the French government and its police force has adopted the full usage of the OpenOffice suite about two years ago or so. Just like the first two tools we’ve talked about, OpenOffice Writer can export your documents into pdf format. The beauty of this particular tool is that it’s offline and more stable, and more powerful than its online counterparts. The program itself is free and since it requires no internet connection to export files into pdf formats, you end up saving more.
AbiWord Processor – this is another great alternative to M$ Word and in fact I’m using this program as my default word processor since April last year after switching from OpenOffice Writer. It can equal the features and functionalities of both M$ Word and OpenOffice Writer but AbiWord is much lighter, (just a 5MB download!), even lighter on system resources and allows me to write in full screen mode removing distractions from my desktop. As for its pdf exporting capabilities, I find it more reliable than OpenOffice Writer’s because it rarely changes the layout of the documents when exporting them into pdf format, sweet!

There are lots more of pdf conversion tools and services out there. These 5 are just the ones that I’ve used and found useful, efficient and worth using. This is not a paid post or review for any of the tools or products I’ve mentioned, but I would dare say and recommend any of each for your pdf conversion needs.

If you have used any of these tools do share your experience, tips or tricks and if you have other, perhaps better alternatives, by all means share it for everyone’s joy.

Switching from M$ Word to OpenOffice Writer to AbiWord

jhay — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 14:47:04 +0000

I’m a follower of Max Limpag. Every tech experiment he does, I follow and try to recreate on my own. The difference is that I don’t document my experiments that much, sole because I lack the tech tools and gadgets that are almost part and parcel of a tech blogger-wannabe’s tool box. A digicam or a mobile phone with the latest features and technologies and yes, a camera. I don’t have those tools yet. So for now, all I can do is write in plain words the tech experiments and tinkering I do. Occasionally I pepper in a few screenshots, graphics and even a screen cast to add sizzle and to help readers fully understand what it is I’m doing or not hoping not to do with my computer.

So much for an introduction and a lengthy one at that. Today, I just followed in his footsteps and made the switch from OpenOffice Writer to AbiWord. This post itself, was written in AbiWord.

So what is AbiWord?

It is yet another free and open-source word processor that can replace your Micro$oft Word. Of all the word processors I’ve tried, AbiWord is so far the best and a refreshing one. From downloading the installer to actually installing AbiWord, it took less than 15 minutes. I’m not kidding, the download took only 6 minutes for it was only a 5 MB download, the lightest word processor installer I’ve ever seen!

How does it look and feel?

The interface looks and feels a lot like Writer in Ubuntu; refreshed, with cleaner lines and icons. The colors may be a little duller than Word but it saves the eyes from strain. Besides, you open up a word processor to write not dabble with fonts, colors and shapes. You use Photoshop or GIMP for that kind of job, but for writing, AbiWord is an enticing tool. It could even be the last word processor you’ll eve use.

It sets you in a writing mode

Still on writing with AbiWord, one of the coolest features it has is the ability to go into full screen mode. Just press F11 and you have your entire screen dedicated to writing, all waiting for your creative juices to be transformed into words, phrases and paragraphs. This feature I’ve come to like can also be found in DarkRoom, a simple old school text processor that lest you write and just write. No distractions from other windows, pop-up notifications and want nots.

This could feature could solve the one of the most dreadful problems bloggers face each day; blogger’s block. You can just go on and on writing till your brain runs out of words or your fingers get tired and sore.

How does it handle?

AbiWord by far is the lightest word processor I’ve ever used. It opens up fast, switches from full screen to normal view in an eye-flash. You can open up a document faster than you can say M$ Word. Wait, I’m exaggerating now but really, it consumes less memory than Writer and Word. A bonus for bloggers and users who like to write while listening to their favorite tracks using memory hogs like iTunes and Window$ Media Player. Sorry but I still use WinAmp and have been using it ever since.

Either way, if you’re a multi-tasker; you can fire up AbiWord along with Firefox to browse the web, and Photoshop to do some image manipulation on the fly. This has been my practice every time I write how-to posts, editing photos and screen shots to suit.

More goodies and features

For added functionality, plugins and add-ons are available for the AbiWord. This allows you to use popular web tools and sites right from inside AbiWord itself. It has a built-in support or link-up feature to Wikipedia, online dictionaries and translation services should you need more information about a particular word in any document you’re viewing with AbiWord. I found these features very unique and useful.

I’d talk more details about these features in a later entry so watch out for that.

Would it leave you isolated?

One of the main reasons why users would be reluctant to switch from M$ Word is the fear many Window$ users feel every time they hear switching from that OS into Linux or a Mac. It’s the issue of compatibility and being left out of the group.

AbiWord takes care of this issue as it allows any document to be saved in the format you choose, .doc, .odt and its own format .abw Another unique and cool feature it offers is the ability to automatically compress a document into a zipped file using its own GZipped AbiWord (.zabw) allowing us to save some space on our hard drives.

Over all, AbiWord has impressed and has proven it can be the last word processor you’ll ever use. Give it a download, play with it, and you’ll love it.