Create pdf files using a network printer

[mcardlej]

I'm wondering whether anyone has had any luck in creating a virtual printer that is capable of writing pdf files.

ie instead of sending the print job to a normal printer, send the job to the pdf virtual pdf-printer, then the user is prompted to 'save as', they select a location and the pdf is created.

I've sucessfully created this using ghostscript, however this only works as a local printer. I've tried sharing the pdf-printer over the network however the printing then fails.

I know there are numerous shareware/adware packages available however I'm hoping that there is a free/easy way of achieving this.

Any information would be a great help!!

Cheers.

[QKnet]

How about PDF Factory? I'm working on this. You can find it here www.fineprint.com.

[mcardlej]

I've tried PDF Factory. Its a good piece of software however the licencing is rather expensive, especially when talking about a few hundred users.

I was hoping to steer clear of the pay-for applications and find a free simple solution. either that or a solution that only requires one license for a shared network printer not a single licence for every user that may connect.

[erikrambo]

I've successfully used bullzip (completely free) to print pdf as a shared network printer by adding this global.ini file to the same directory where gui.exe are located. Bullzip are then able to output pdf without any dialog.

global.ini

[PDF Printer]

DisableOptionDialog=yes

Output=R:\<basedocname>.pdf

ShowSaveAS=never

ShowSettings=never

ShowPDF=no

ConfirmOverwrite=no