East Carolina University
Department of Psychology
Ps2pdf995.exe and PDF995s.exe are the printer driver and the converter. Install the printer driver first. I got version 1.1 of the converter and 8.3 of the driver in December of 2007. Having run the exe files, you now can (from Word and other programs) "print" a document to a PDF file. For example, I am in a Word document. I click File, Print. I open the printer drop-down menu and select PDF995. I click OK. I open the SAVE AS box, point at the destination folder, enter a file name, and click SAVE. At this point your browser will open and display some ads (you can disable this for $15 or you can block it for free by simply telling your firewall to block Internet access for pdf996 setup), just close them. Go to the destination folder and open the newly created PDF file. You will see that it opens, with Adobe Acrobat, just fine.
You can also download pdfEdit995 and an associated module that allow you to convert pdf files to html or Word files, combine documents, and other neat tricks. I got version 5.3 in May of 2003, but haven't had much need to use them.
Graduate student Tim Bibo contributed the following information on creating PDF documents:
There are two methods that I use to convert files to PDF files. Both of these methods are free and do not display any type of advertisement on the PDF file. Also, the software for both methods will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.
The first method is to use OpenOffice, which can be downloaded for free at http://www.openoffice.org. After installing OpenOffice, one can open or create a Microsoft Office document and save it as a PDF file. It works for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and many other file formats. Also, there are options to adjust the size of the outputted PDF, at the sake of quality, if size is of concern. Additionally, one can place a password on PDF files created via this method.
The second method requires a little more set up, but it can convert any document that is sent to the printer into a PDF file.
- First, one will need to download or install a PostScript printer driver. There is one for free at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=44&platform=Windows . Also, there are several built into Windows XP. So a user of XP may go to the control panel and install the Apple Color LW 12/660 PS from the printer menu.
- Second, one will need to download GhostScript and GsView from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
- After the setup is complete, the user will just print any document to the PostScript printer and choose print to file. The user will then open that file with GSview, which will convert it to a PDF.
Bob Graham added: "Don't forget to remind the Mac users that all they have to do is to open the print dialog box and click on "Create PDF file," and sit back.
Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch
This page most recently revised on
17. August 2008.