This format has become the open, de-facto standard for archiving and distributing electronic documents, for a very good reason. It is a compact, universal file format that preserves the layout, fonts, colors, and images of any source document in such a way that it can be read by any computer on which a free software program, Adobe Acrobat Reader - now known as Adobe Reader in its version 7.0 manifestation - is installed. This includes Palm and Pocket PC devices running Windows CE. PDF compaction is achieved by using the Unisys patented Lempel Ziv Welch (LZW) data compression and decompression technology. This involves compression of a file using an algorithm invented by Abraham Lempel, Jacob Ziv, and Terry Welch. Commonly-used file formats in which LZW compression is used are GIF (Graphic Image Format), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), PDF and Postscript-2.
I use PDF files extensively for a variety of graphic and text documents, including eBay transactions, bank confirmation of transfers, ISP's listing of properties of a new connection, and email messages in addition to tutorials and program documentation. They are also a convenient way to save web pages rather than saving them in their native HTML format. They save as single files, not as files with associated folders, and are smaller while still preserving layout and permitting searching of text. But I do not have a copy of Adobe Acrobat to create these files. Instead I use pdfFactory from FinePrint Software that permits me to print any document to a PDF file through a printer driver. I have been using it for years. Records show that it was only released in 2001, so I guess I was among the first to adopt it, though I may not go back as far as that.
Installation is very simple and its use is transparent - just select pdfFactory from the list of printer drivers in the dropdown dialog box of the Print window that opens when you select File>Print> for any document. Standard printer options like paper size and orientation, and margins are available through the Properties dialog, but pdfFactory also allows for the embedding of fonts and the conversion of URLs into PDF links. Fonts not expected to be on some recipient computers can be embedded in the original document with some loss of compression. There are14 core fonts that are guaranteed to be included with any PDF viewer. These are basically a bunch of Times, Helvetica, Courier, Symbol and ZapfDingbats, and do not have to be embedded to preserve format. It is much more efficient to use these fonts whenever possible, as embedded fonts increase the size of the output file. pdfFactory can combine multiple individual files into a complete book for a more professional presentation, allowing addition or deletion of individual and blank pages - essential for the production of our magazine. Additionally, graphics can be preserved in fine resolution or resampled down to 96 dpi for a smaller document size. This feature is an advantage for documents destined for Web viewing, not for printing, which again applies to our magazine.
It may be easier to understand the properties and functions of pdfFactory if I walk through the process of converting our monthly magazine from a collection of discrete HTML documents containing text, tables, and images into PDF. The obvious place to start is with index.htm, which is the front page and lists the contents - each with its own link to the relevant other HTML file. Each of these other files has two links: one back to the INDEX and the other to the NEXT item featured. That makes life easy for you and me. Having loaded the index page I then print it to pdfFactory and preview the output. Here I set the options for the entire document, and print index.htm. That's the last time I need to see pdfFactory until I have walked my way completely through the magazine using the NEXT links. I simply view them in turn and print them blindly, because I know they are being added in the correct order to the ultimate output file. Where there is a diversion, such as occurs when the Software Reviews page refers to possibly four other items before returning to the next item in the index listing, I print these in their turn after Software Reviews before returning to the index listing. In this way all items are bookmarked in the correct order. pdfFactory is far superior to what I have been using to date in producing bookmarks, and produces a significantly smaller and cleaner file. Having printed the final item in the index I then shift to pdfFactory with ALT-TAB or from the task bar and preview the long file, page by page. HTML pages do not know paper boundaries like those applicable to A4 or Letter and do not necessarily fit a standard format. There are times when there are only the words INDEX and NEXT on a page and I can delete this as being unnecessary, as these HTML links do not work in PDF anyway. Worse than this, though, is when an image is split over two pages. This happened in February with the drvimagerxp.jpg. To overcome this I was able to choose a different page size to the conventional A4. pdfFactory has variations on this and I used A4Plus at 210x330mm. All the pages in the file were subsequently reformatted and good formatting was preserved. I then opt to save the file, and the magazine is preserved in one PDF file of respectable proportions with valid URLs. And universally readable. If you are reading the PDF file while connected to the Internet, clicking the URL will open the browser or email client at that site.
pdfFactory is available in two versions, standard and Pro. Until writing this review I had used only the standard version, currently priced at US$49.95, and obviously found it satisfactory. Only after meeting the requirement to include bookmarks in our magazine did I realise the increased power and value of pdfFactory Pro, priced at US$99.95. This version also provides security in the form of 40 bit and 128 bit encryption, password protection, and restrictions on copying, printing, or editing PDF documents.
pdfFactory reduces document size and consequently paper usage, but a greater economy could be achieved by physically shrinking the size of the documents. The much touted paperless office will never be achieved, but in a move towards that aim FinePrint Software conceived the idea of printing multiple pages of any document to a single sheet of paper, and developed a printer driver to achieve this. The answer was FinePrint, the flagship of the firm, that was released in 1996 and ultimately spawned pdfFactory. I used this a few years ago to produce genealogy documents, travelogues, and copies of articles I was writing then for my family and a smaller computer group in which I was a member. I have a current version now, priced at US$49.95. FinePrint extends the features of pdfFactory by enabling up to eight pages to be printed on a single sheet - on both sides if the printer is capable of duplex printing as is my Canon iP4000, or in booklet form. With modern printers readability remains excellent. I was able to print last month's magazine with 35 A5 pages on A4 paper in booklet form, without any preparation other than installing a FinePrint printer driver. FinePrint cleverly tests the printer to determine if it is duplex and how it handles printing on both sides of the paper. Similar to pdfFactory it allows for page setup of margins and gutters, previewing of the output file and deletion of unwanted pages.In conjunction with pdfFactory it can be used to collect pages from disparate sources to be combined into a single file. But it goes further than this in superimposing water marks, creating forms and embedding letterheads. I have seen far larger and more complex packages that fail to reach the standard set by FinePrint.