DOC,TXT, * to PDF

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Hi guys,

I was just wondering how do i convert a document (word, textfile, etc) to pdf. Consideirng the fact that Macs have pdf support, can i do it without having to purchase adobe acrobat full version?

Also, can i do it without having to install any third party applications like Doctor?
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/DOCtor.shtml

So I guess in short, my quesiton is...can i convert doc, textfiles to pdf using macs' inbuilt features?

I'm running Tiger.

Thanks for any tips
jtr
 
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You cannot covert .doc or .txt files to .pdf with any of the included apps in OS X. You would have to purchase a third party app like Acrobat to do this.
Preview can only read PDF formats or change an image file to a PDF.
 

iWhat

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Well, you could use the option built right in Tiger for this. You would want to print out as a PDF. File->Print->(down in the left-hand corner) PDF->Save as PDF...
 
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iWhat said:
Well, you could use the option built right in Tiger for this. You would want to print out as a PDF. File->Print->(down in the left-hand corner) PDF->Save as PDF...

That still won't convert a .doc file (at least as far as I can see, but I could be mistaken). Native OS X apps cannot open MS Word files, therefore will not be able to convert them directly from Word. AppleWorks/iWork can open .doc files, but cannot convert them to PDF. MS does not offer PDF conversion from within Word either, so you would need a third pary app to do this. I suppose it would be technically possible if you first converted the .doc to a TIFF somehow, then you could convert the TIFF to a PDF...but that seems a bit too much work.
The DOCtor app seems to be the best option for converting Word docs, outside of purchasing Acrobat or some other PDF creator app.
 
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D3v1L80Y said:
That still won't convert a .doc file (at least as far as I can see, but I could be mistaken). Native OS X apps cannot open MS Word files, therefore will not be able to convert them directly from Word. AppleWorks/iWork can open .doc files, but cannot convert them to PDF. MS does not offer PDF conversion from within Word either, so you would need a third pary app to do this. I suppose it would be technically possible if you first converted the .doc to a TIFF somehow, then you could convert the TIFF to a PDF...but that seems a bit too much work.
The DOCtor app seems to be the best option for converting Word docs, outside of purchasing Acrobat or some other PDF creator app.

Anything that you can print you can convert to a PDF

I have a word document that I typed on a pc and had on my computer. I was able to export it as a PDF in both TextEdit and NeoOfficeJ and it worked fine, even retained all of the text information so I could search in preview for words
 
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Well, I guess I was wrong. I don't have Tiger and this option is not in 10.3.
You learn something new everyday! :black:
 
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D3v1L80Y said:
Well, I guess I was wrong. I don't have Tiger and this option is not in 10.3.
You learn something new everyday! :black:

But there is a hack to enable that option in Panther. The "Print as PDF"-option actually exists in Panther, it's just hidden...Google it, and I'm sure you will find it very quick.
Panther is natively able to create PDFs, you can check that by simply doing a screenshot (command-shift-3 for the whole screen, command-shift-4 for a selected area). Panther saves screenshots as PDF, so it has to be able to create PDF.

And actually TextEdit, a native OS X app, is able to open, edit and save in DOC format...even in Panther... :cool:
 
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iWhat said:
Well, you could use the option built right in Tiger for this. You would want to print out as a PDF. File->Print->(down in the left-hand corner) PDF->Save as PDF...

YES!!!!...I knew I saw that somewhere...just couldnt remember.

Thanks for reminding me. Yippee!!!!
 

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For the fun of it I fired up my G3 B&W running Jaguar 10.2.8 and went into Textedit. No export but if you open the print menu, right at the bottom, save to PDF. So you can even do it under Jaguar!!
 
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So I just tried it using an MS Word doc and lo and behold, when you open the Print menu, there it is, clear as day "Save as PDF"
Looks like you don't need any exta apps or hacks after all.
:black:
 
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Nope, that's a really great feature in OS X generally...

Windows users who've bought some sort of add-on to do that are amazed..."What, it can do that for FREE? How cool..."
 
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Aptmunich said:
Nope, that's a really great feature in OS X generally...

Windows users who've bought some sort of add-on to do that are amazed..."What, it can do that for FREE? How cool..."

Well, Windows can't do it natively, but yet there are free and open-source tools that can do it. No need to spend one single cent...
 
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D3v1L80Y said:
So I just tried it using an MS Word doc and lo and behold, when you open the Print menu, there it is, clear as day "Save as PDF"
Looks like you don't need any exta apps or hacks after all.
:black:

Yeah, I remember now...they had forgotten it in the initial Panther release, but I think the 10.3.2 update fixed it.
The "hack" actually was very easy, simply create a folder called "PDF Services" in the System -> Library folder (not the User -> Library) and that's it! The "Save as PDF" option now appears in the print menu.

Pretty awkward how a missing folder can disable a feature...
 
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One thing though, for typical use, this "Print to PDF" type of converting is fine. However, if you are in an industry where what you send is going to press, this will typically not be ok. You need either an applications that can export to PDF on it's own (ie. CS2, Quark, etc.) or, you must have Adobe Acrobat Pro. I say this because only those programs have the settings that are truly acceptable for press. However, if you are in an industry where you are going to press, you already know this and you know what settings to modify.
 
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Avalon said:
Yeah, I remember now...they had forgotten it in the initial Panther release, but I think the 10.3.2 update fixed it.
The "hack" actually was very easy, simply create a folder called "PDF Services" in the System -> Library folder (not the User -> Library) and that's it! The "Save as PDF" option now appears in the print menu.

Pretty awkward how a missing folder can disable a feature...

that is odd. My Powerbook was new enough when I got it to have 10.3.8, so that wasn't a problem.
 
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Avalon said:
Well, Windows can't do it natively, but yet there are free and open-source tools that can do it. No need to spend one single cent...
That's true, but the average Joe still goes out and buys Adobe Acrobat Standard to do it...
 

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