[Fultonius]

Folks,

I need some software to make PDFs. It needs to be free or open source and I would like to be able to append pages to existing PDF files.

Any experiences you care to share?

[SA Chris]

I've got Adobe Acrobat X Standard at work, and you can do what you are asking with it. Don't know if it's free. As a quick short term fix you can email me some stuff if want it pdfing (as you can gather it's pretty quiet here!)

[cofe]

Adobe were effectively giving away CS2 last year, inc. Acrobat, though it looks like you need to log in now to access it. Worth a look.

[Grubes]

We use PDF 995 at work think its open source. http://www.pdf995.com/

[rginns]

I've got Adobe Acrobat X Standard at work, and you can do what you are asking with it. Don't know if it's free. As a quick short term fix you can email me some stuff if want it pdfing (as you can gather it's pretty quiet here!)

Acrobat X ain't free , cost me around 70 notes IIRC.
Also, it's incredibly annoying that they have blocked the edit object function for standard (only available in PRO) as this is the most useful feature of the program.

[slackline]

Won't do the required appending but if you're writing from scratch then you could consider the FOSS LaTeX which produces PDFs when compiled.

You can even WriteLaTeX online and they've an RTF mode for those unfamiliar with type-setting.  (Think of it as a LaTeX equivalent of GoogleDocs as it permits shared collaboration on the documents).

[Johnny Brown]

I use CutePDF writer on my PC which functions as a virtual printer. Works well, free, doesn't create random giant file sizes like most programs (and Macs built-in pdf printer). No idea if it allows you to append pages though.

[Fultonius]

Won't do the required appending but if you're writing from scratch then you could consider the FOSS LaTeX which produces PDFs when compiled.

You can even WriteLaTeX online and they've an RTF mode for those unfamiliar with type-setting.  (Think of it as a LaTeX equivalent of GoogleDocs as it permits shared collaboration on the documents).

I'd love to use Latex at work, but we're stuck with approved software.

As for home, it's really just for grouping scans of receipts together for expenses.

[slackline]

WriteLaTeX.com might work under IE 8 if you're lucky

[Dave Flanagan]

What about Open Office, can create a doucment and export as PDF?

[sammo]

As mentioned above, CutePDF writer is free, easy to use and works well. I don't think it will append/merge multiple PDFs into one file, but it will create multi-page PDFs directly from other software e.g. Word or OpenOffice.

If you need to merge multiple PDF files, PDFMerge should do the trick, although I've not used it personally.

[Oldmanmatt]

I use Cute PDF on the PC (which replaces the print function and is free) and splice on my iPad using (wait for it...) PDF Splicer (£2) app. On the pad there are a whole host of apps to create PDFs, so I would assume the same is true in Android? If you use an iPad, all of the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, Keynote etc) allow you to export in PDF,Word, or iWork format and so automatically create PDFs.
Pages has been up graded to allow tracking for changes now, so it seems to have all the functionality of Word.

Laptop is now an expensive paperweight and the PC is relegated to detailed engineering drawing creation (where I need the bigger/multiple screens).
Basic stuff I can do better using the Autocad suite for the pad, including Force Effect for calculations...

I digress.

But you get the point.

[slackline]

Just had a thought...

As for home, it's really just for grouping scans of receipts together for expenses.

There are various applications for your phone which will make PDFs from a series of pictures you snap.

Not used any myself so I can't recommend any, but this one is free and doesn't put watermarks on the resulting PDF...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.icecoldapps.pdfcreatorultimatefree&hl=en

Definitely some for iOS too (a friend used one to snap shots of Dolomites topos to take on routes, again no idea which one he used I'm afraid).

[Paul B]

Won't do the required appending but if you're writing from scratch then you could consider the FOSS LaTeX which produces PDFs when compiled.

Yes it will. You can add a PDF as a file and then have normal code upon it and after it. This is how I added papers and things not written in LaTEX to appendices.

[slackline]

Not something I've ever had need to do so didn't know it was possible.

One way to do it is

Code: [Select]

\usepackage{pdfpages}
\includepdf[pages={1}]{myfile.pdf}


[Bubba]

For just joining receipts together then you could try http://www.pdfjoin.com/

I use it all the time for joining scanned timesheets together in order to send to the office.

[Fultonius]

The breadth of knowledge on UKB astounds me once again. Cheers all!

P.S. for anyone with windows 7 you don't need any pdf makers for just producing documents - if you have office you can save straight to pdf.

Bubba wins the prize, as I often have existing pdfs that I want to add other PDFs to.  I use MD Scan lite on my phone which works well as a scanner.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

I'd love to use Latex at work, but we're stuck with approved software

http://miktex.org/portable might be of interest.

[Paul B]

P.S. for anyone with windows 7 you don't need any pdf makers for just producing documents - if you have office you can save straight to pdf.

That function is shockingly unreliable when used in conjunction with images though. PDF995 is a much more reliable piece of software.

I don't get why basic functions like this haven't been mastered by M$.

[Oldmanmatt]

P.S. for anyone with windows 7 you don't need any pdf makers for just producing documents - if you have office you can save straight to pdf.

That function is shockingly unreliable when used in conjunction with images though. PDF995 is a much more reliable piece of software.

I don't get why basic functions like this haven't been mastered by M$.

Because it's M$.


Mainly $.

[tomtom]

I use CutePDF writer on my PC which functions as a virtual printer. Works well, free, doesn't create random giant file sizes like most programs (and Macs built-in pdf printer). No idea if it allows you to append pages though.

+1 for cutepdf - but I'm pretty sure it doesnt let you append...

[Johnny Brown]

Because it's M$.

OSX is no better. Famous for producing giant file size pdfs at random.

[Fultonius]

I've just realised my comment for just using MS' built in PDFer was based mainly on making copies of online receipts, so quality was not an issue, nor files size. I haven't ever tried to use it to do any real PDFing of long documents with images.

[tomtom]

Kind of semi off topic, but I've used the cam scanner app on my iFern to make great multi page (small) PDFs from the camera on the phone. Works really well and makes great b&w text versions. Doesn't ocr but works great.