# Printing to PDF



## Scott (Jan 14, 2010)

On a Mac, is there a way to convert a non-PDF document (eg. an Office Word doc) to a PDF? I thought there was a way to do this through printing (selecting PDF as the output), but don't see that as an option. Thanks


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## Bookmeister (Jan 14, 2010)

If you have Adobe Acrobat-yes, if you have Adobe Reader-no.


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## Scott (Jan 14, 2010)

Bookmeister said:


> If you have Adobe Acrobat-yes, if you have Adobe Reader-no.


 
Perfect, that is what I need to know - thanks!


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## ClayPot (Jan 14, 2010)

I could be wrong, but when I go to print, I has a pdf button that I can use to save the document to pdf. If that doesn't work, preview the document and then save the corresponding .pdf. Maybe its just my mac, but that's always worked for me.


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## jwithnell (Jan 14, 2010)

I was surprised to see pdf as one of your "save as" file types in Word 2007 ... you might want to see if that's available on your Mac too. (I usually convert from within another Adobe product, like InDesign.)


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## sastark (Jan 14, 2010)

What version of the Mac OS are you using? I have 10.4 and if you have this, or anything later (maybe earlier versions as well, I don't know), you do not need any third party software. In whatever program you are printing from (Word, for example), select File->Print. One of the buttons on the print screen that appears is "PDF". Click on this and select "Save as PDF..." Viola! You've got your PDF without needing Acrobat or PrimoPDF or anything else.


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## Scott (Jan 14, 2010)

sastark said:


> What version of the Mac OS are you using? I have 10.4 and if you have this, or anything later (maybe earlier versions as well, I don't know), you do not need any third party software. In whatever program you are printing from (Word, for example), select File->Print. One of the buttons on the print screen that appears is "PDF". Click on this and select "Save as PDF..." Viola! You've got your PDF without needing Acrobat or PrimoPDF or anything else.


 
Thanks, Seth. I will check that out. I thought I tried that. I have the latest OS, Snow Leopard.


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## ryanhamre (Jan 17, 2010)

Rumor has it, Open Office will run on Snow Leopard. With a little investigation, it could be a decent solution.

Open Office has an "Export to PDF" feature.

Good luck.


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## beej6 (Jan 17, 2010)

If you can print, you can save. Choose File > Print, and click on the PDF button for your options. No Adobe Acrobat needed. This has been built in to Mac OS X since at least 10.3.


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## jfschultz (Jan 17, 2010)

The PDF file generated from the OSX print dialog is quite large. If you are going to e-mail it or are tight on disk space, double click on the PDF file. This will open the file in Preview. In Preview select File:Save As. The dialog box will include an item for "Quartz Filters" where you can select an option to reduce the file size. The result will be much smaller.


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