Create your own PDF files with bookmarks and table of content (TOC) for free.

November 1st, 2008 · No Comments

Many professional business documents are published in PDF format.Â PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Many applications use PDF file size because of its file size friendly footprint. In addition, you can’t modify a pdf file without modifying certain file parameters. The PDF format is a legal file format used by many lawyers. PDF was developed by Adobe Acrobat in 1993.

Create your own PDF work environment without spending a single penny on the software

In order to create PDF files, you must have a PDF application or virtual printer driver that supports this file format. Â There are several PDF applications available that won’t cost you a penny. I will share with you my favorite setup.

My favorite PDF work environment setup includes:

PDFCreator or Bullzip PDF application
PDF-T-Maker

PFD Creator (http://www.pdfforge.org/)

PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application. PDFCreator is very user friendly.

Key Features (as described on pdfforge.org):

Create PDFs from any program that is able to print
Security: Encrypt PDFs and protect them from being opened, printed etc.
Send generated files via eMail
Create more than just PDFs: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, EPS
AutoSave files to folders and filenames based on Tags like Username, Computername, Date, Time etc.
Merge multiple files into one PDF
Easy Install: Just say what you want and everything is installed
Terminal Server: PDFCreator also runs on Terminal Servers without problems
And the best: PDFCreator is free, even for commercial use! It is Open Source and released under the Terms of the GNU General Public License.

Bullzip Printer (Bullzip.com)

The Bullzip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application. You can even make a programmatic link from other software applications to this virtual printer application.

Key Features (as described on bullzip.com):

Print to PDF from almost any Windows program.
Runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/XP x64/2003/2003 x64/Vista/Vista x64/2008.
Supports 64-bit operating systems.
Direct output to the same file each time or prompt for destination.
Control if the printer should ask if you want to see the resulting PDF document.
Control output and prompts programmatically.
Setup can run unattended.
Graphical user interface.
Password protect PDF documents.
128/40 bit encryption.
Quality settings (screen, printer, ebook, prepress).
Set document properties.
Watermark text, size, rotation, and transparency.
Superimpose/background documents.
Appending/prepending documents.
User interface control.
Command line interface to all settings.
COM/ActiveX interface for programmatic control.
Support for Citrix MetaFrame
Support for Windows Terminal Server
Multiple output types supported: BMP, JPEG, PCX, PDF, PNG, and TIFF.

PDF-T-Maker (transcom.de)

One PDF feature that is missing in almost every free pdf application is the feature to create bookmarks and hyperlinks in your PDF documents. Bookmarks and hyperlinks make PDF files very easy to navigate and much more professional looking. PDF-T-Maker can create bookmarks and hyperlinks for your Microsoft Word documents. Â PDF-T-Maker will show up in Microsoft Word as an Add-In.

Combine all pdf applications together to create a complete pdf work environment solution

With PDFCreator or Bullzip plus combining PDF-T-Maker, you have a complete solution to develop professional PDF files for free!

Bookmarks and table of content in PDF files

You can create a table of content in your PDFfiles easily by using the Microsoft heading styles. If you need a tutorial about using Microsoft Styles, please visit the site of MVP Shauna Kelly. Â I don’t believe there is a site that better describes how to use styles within Microsoft Word. PDF-T-Maker is using the 9 default style headings in Microsoft Word for the table of content.

Protect your produced work

You spend a lot of time to create a professional document and you want to protect your document from being copied and reproduced by others. The combination of PFDCreator and Bullzip will provide you all the protection you need. Encrypt your files, set permissions on files if readers can print or copy and pasteÂ your information, set a strong password on your file and add a watermark for authenticity.