Best way to convert MS Word to PDF? (downloads)

Looking for a nice little (and free) download to convert Microsoft Word Works documents into a PDF format. Right now I have a deskPDF download installed. It works when I select my printer. It then converts and saves the document into a PDF format. However, I get a "Your Free Trial Has Expired!" pop up prior to saving. My options are Activate (which I can't), Continue (which I do) and Buy Now (which I don't). My question is, how long can I continue bypassing this free trial expiration? I'm surprised I'm still allowed to convert to PDF for this long.

Anyway, I checked Programs and it appears I installed the deskPDF 2.5 Professional Edition back in June of 2011, so it's already been six months. Funny thing though, is I distinctly remember where I got the download from and that was at CNET Downloads. So that's what they give away? A trial edition for a paid upgraded version? I guess I don't mind the Buy Now pop up and if it lasts indefinitely, all the better. But aren't there other, more permanent alternatives that aren't trial editions of premium versions? Much obliged for any assistance. Thanks!

One of these should do it. I have read Nitro PDF works fairly well, but haven't used any of them.
Google

Do you need to edit the doc in .pdf? I think you can save MS word docs as .pdf. But that's probably read only.

How about this one? Anybody have any experience with this?

This was the #1 PDF software download at CNET with 25,610,080 downloads.

PDF Converter — #1 Free PDF Creator — PrimoPDF


Or how about this one?

This was the #2 PDF software download at CNET with 2,964,989 downloads.

Free PDF Converter - Print to PDF with doPDF

Never heard of the first one. I have heard some good things about the second.

A PDF file is an output file normally obtained by printing a DOC file through a PDF printer. As you have mentioned, PDF is a read only file and is used for distribution to others. If you need to edit this file in future, better keep the original DOC source file, edit it and then again convert it to PDF.

Usually a PDF file is small in size compared to a DOC. Apart from DOC files you can convert a variety of files like XLS, RTF, TXT, DWG and other files to a universal PDF format.

Adobe Acrobat is the first product to have created this format and this format has become popular for archiving various file formats to a universal format. If you really want a latest PDF producer, better to go the way of Acrobat which gives more options with a PDF file and limited editing capabilities. But Acrobat is an expensive software and may not be viable to someone who occasionally create PDFs.

If you want a freeware PDF producer there are many available on the net and you can either google or search on www.planetpdf.com.

rraod said:

A PDF file is an output file normally obtained by printing a DOC file through a PDF printer. As you have mentioned, PDF is a read only file and is used for distribution to others. If you need to edit this file in future, better keep the original DOC source file, edit it and then again convert it to PDF.

Usually a PDF file is small in size compared to a DOC. Apart from DOC files you can convert a variety of files like XLS, RTF, TXT, DWG and other files to a universal PDF format.

Adobe Acrobat is the first product to have created this format and this format has become popular for archiving various file formats to a universal format. If you really want a latest PDF producer, better to go the way of Acrobat which gives more options with a PDF file and limited editing capabilities. But Acrobat is an expensive software and may not be viable to someone who occasionally create PDFs.

If you want a freeware PDF producer there are many available on the net and you can either google or search on www.planetpdf.com.

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I purchased Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard some years ago. It has two features that I made much use of, namely, it can read the pdf in part or in its entirety, and it has the ability to display all of the weblinks on a webpage and you can select to download all or certain of those links.

However, Acrobat 7 only works on a x86 OS so when I changed to a 64 bit OS it no longer functioned. Lucky for me Win7 Ultimate has the XP Mode. Now I can continue to make use of Acrobat 7.

A word of caution, Adobe is really strict concerning how many times you can activate Acrobat. So, make sure you read the prescribed method for uninstalling and reinstalling.

Hi there,
I have classic pdf editor, it can create, edit and convert, so its working all in one for me. But it depends on choice of yours. If you want just a converter you may be able to find that as well through Google, you may also be able to find the online software's. But if you have a large quantity and regular work, then in that case you should simply buy a software like me. I too had that problem, and I was willing to buy adobe, but looking at the price of adobe and nitro, I was shocked, and finally I found this Classic pdf editor.

PDFCreator has been around for a long time. It sets up a dummy printer. PDFCreator | Free Business & Enterprise software downloads at SourceForge.net

I just used Free PDF Converter on a 400-page Word 2002 document. It could not have been easier. It could not have been faster or smoother. I even included a cover picture (the resolution could have been just a little better). The finished product looked very nice. Only took a couple of minutes from CNET to final product. Bravo.

Free PDF Converter - Print to PDF with doPDF