(vanity) Recently found cool freeware utilities thread

Teh Intarweb | 6/23/07 | marty_f

[martin_fierro]

Found a cool, free (and Spyware-free) utility last night that lets you create an Adobe PDF file out of anything you can send to a printer.

Adobe software offers this same feature, but you have to buy their program. This one is FREE.

It's called Primo PDF.

Whatchoo got? Post it here.

[martin_fierro]

Previous cool utilities threads on FR:

PC Security Software (Free) Links

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

[martin_fierro]

Techie Ping

[WhiteGuy]

bookmark bump

[RedRover]

Thanks, martin! Very useful.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Goodness, I may have an attack of the vapors!

[martin_fierro]

I *knew* I’d see you on this Freeware thread, you tightwad.

[NeonKnight]

bump for later

[SouthTexas]

Thanks bump.

[b4its2late]

I still think that bird song you posted was a mockingbird......thanks for the freeware

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What about going the other way....PDF to HTML?

[martin_fierro]

What about going the other way....PDF to HTML?

picky

PICKY

PICKY

[martin_fierro]

That thing is tweeting up a storm right now, and I think you’re right.

[martin_fierro]

There's this, if you're into command lines.

[ShadowAce]

[Kevmo]

There are several free PDF printing programs available at any one time. Others include CutePDF Writer and Print2PDF, and Doro PDF Printer 1.35. You can download them for free at www.download.com (basically /cnet) and search for PDF Writer and free licenses.
http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0-1-0.html?qt=pdf+writer&author=&titlename=&desc=&dlcount=&daysback=&swlink=&gfiletype=&os=128&li=49&dlsize=&ca=2001

I use a PDF Editor that cost about $120 from Iceni called Infix. It’s top notch.
http://www.iceni.com/
I downloaded a trial demo of foxit pdf editor that adds a bookmark to the PDF and, if I want to remove the bookmark, I can do it with the Infix PDF Editor (but they recently changed their program so that you have to hit the delete key 14 times for each bookmark, so the old version was easier to use this trick).
www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/pe_intro.php

I recently ran across PDFTK on accesspdf.com and planetpdf.com but I haven’t used it.
http://www.accesspdf.com/index.php?topic=pdftk
http://www.planetpdf.com/

Here’s what I’m looking for:

I need a program that will append PDFs onto a master PDF document based upon certain criteria. For instance, if the main datasheet uses 3 different package types, then I would need to append those 3 package PDFs, add an FAQ document PDF, and a product reliability/testing PDF as well, all of these documents merged into one SuperDatasheet PDF. I would need to be able to do this with several hundred datasheet PDF documents in such a way that if, say, one of the Package PDF docs gets changed, then I can automatically update and distribute that change to all of the datasheets that use that PDF document within hours rather than weeks.

Javascripting sounds like it would do the trick, but I’m not a developer. Also we found a piece of software called “Active PDF Toolkit” but our IT Department has given this project so little priority that more than 6 months later, they still have not yet evaluated it (it’s basically a COM programming environment for PDFs).

Traction Software has PDF U which has a Batch Process capability and can store a batch file. But the file is not manipulable without programming; we would need to be able to have some smarts and monitoring and conditions on which files get appended.
http://www.traction-software.co.uk/pdfuas/index.html
PDF U Append Dekstop Edition 1.08 Traction Software Batch Processing Version

Has anyone used PDFTK?
If PDF is electronic paper, then pdftk is an electronic staple-remover, hole-punch, binder, secret-decoder-ring, and X-Ray-glasses. Pdftk is a command-line ...
http://www.accesspdf.com/index.php?topic=pdftk -

Basically I need some software we can download and get the job done without relying upon our IT department to learn the scripting language. It can’t be too basic like some of the free PDF tools we can download (none of those work as far as I can tell), but it can also not be too complicated that I’d need to spend 6 months I don’t have to learn a scripting language or have our lame IT department drag their heels on the project.

[JRios1968]

PDF to Excel?

[Kevmo]

The best I’ve run across is Iceni Gemini. But it’s not freeware, it cost about $160 (originally started at ~$60)

http://www.iceni.com/gemini.htm

What is “Gemini”?
Gemini quickly converts text & images in PDF documents into other formats. Whether you wish to post a user manual on the internet, an article from a newspaper, a financial report or entire book, Gemini saves you time and effort.

What can it do?
Gemini can export the text within a PDF in a variety of formats including HTML, RTF & plain text. It supports all standards of PDF plus password protected documents .

As well as text formats, Gemini can export photos and graphics as JPEG, EPS, TIFF, PNG and BMP. It can convert embedded images, render artwork or entire documents at a range of sizes, resolutions and colour depths.

The software also offers a host of advanced features and customisation making it one of the oldest and most comprehensive PDF converters available for Macintosh or Windows PCs.

[Vinnie]

ping

[tacticalogic]

From MS, and related:

BSOD screen saver

Sysinternals system tools

Windows Powershell

Powershell is a cli/scripting language. You might also want to check out the free Powershell Community Extensions at Codeplex.

[AFPhys]

Ahhh... this is a great thread(s) ... I could use a freebee PDF creator...