As the name implies, the main function of PDFCreator is to create PDFs. Beyond that you can convert to several other formats. In this chapter, we present an overview on the different output formats and their advantages.
This setting sets the default file format for the save dialog. This format will be preselected in the normal printing process and directly set in autosave mode.
Please see PDF Formats for information on the available PDF formats and refer to Image Formats for information on the available image formats.
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format that offers portability. The original layout will look the same, regardless of your device’s operating system or the software you are using.
PDF/A files are PDFs with special restrictions for long term archiving. The feature set of the PDF standard is reduced to make it as certain as possible that the files can still be opened in many years. Among other things, fonts always have to be embedded in the document and dynamic elements like JavaScript are not allowed.
PDF/A2-b is based on the PDF Version 1.7 and supports signatures that deny multiple signing. PDF/A3-b adds support for embedding various file types (e.g. XML, CSV, HTML).
Choose PDF/A-1b or PDF/A-2b according to your requirements. If unsure, we recommend PDF/A-2b.
Note
The PDF/A standard prohibits encryption. Enabled encryption will be automatically disabled.
PDF/X files are PDFs with special requirements for printing. PDF/X-3 supports CMYK, RGB, ICC and LAB based colour spaces. PDF/X and has some other limitations to ensure good results when printed.
Note
The PDF/X standard prohibits encryption. Enabled encryption will be automatically disabled.
Create PDF with Portrait or Landscape orientation. If you select Auto-Detect PDFCreator will detect the predominating text orientation page by page and rotate the page accordingly.
Note
Text that is contained in images can’t be detected.
If you want to rotate a page afterwards, you can use our free PDF Architect.
Set a color model RGB, CMYK or Greyscale. Note that the selected model does not apply to images.
This menu changes the compression settings used on images in a PDF when it is created by PDFCreator. Compression reduces the file size of a PDF with a possible loss in quality.
Select the type of compression to be used when compressing image objects. For JPEG compression, you can also set the compression level. A high compression reduces the file size, but also reduces the quality of the images. When set to manual, you can enter a compression factor to optimize the size/quality ratio.
Use ZIP if you wish to compress embedded images losslessly.
Resample: Resampling is when an image’s pixel size is changed and therefore the amount of pixels that are used is changed. Set the dpi (dots per inch) value, that the images will have when compressed in a PDF.
Page view specifies how pages are displayed:
Single page view displays one page at a time (this is the default).
Floating page view displays the pages in one column.
Double page view (odd pages left) / Double page view (odd pages right) displays the pages in two columns, with the odd page number on the left/right.
Floating Double page view (odd pages left) / Floating Double page view (odd pages right) displays two pages at once, with odd-numbered pages on the left/right.
Document view specifies how to open the PDF file. Should bookmarks be displayed, should the document be opened in fullscreen mode etc.:
Neither document outline nor thumbnail images visible - None of the tabs on the left are selected (this is the default).
Document outline visible - The document outline (with the bookmarks) is visible.
Thumbnail image visible - Thumbnail images corresponding with the pages are visible.
Fullscreen mode - No menu bar, window controls or any other windows are visible.
Optional content group panel visible.
Attachments panel visible.
Viewer open on page determines which page should be displayed after opening.
PDFCreator supports the creation of several image formats.
The JPG format is commonly used to create compressed single page documents to get smaller files with a loss in image quality.
Resolution: Sets the dpi or dots per inch of the image. The higher the dpi the more detailed the image and the larger the file size will be. The default dpi is 150.
Colors: Sets the amount of colors that should be used when converting to JPEG format. The best and highest setting is 24 bit color.
Quality: Sets the image quality of the document when it is converted. The higher the quality, the larger the image file size will be.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format should be used to create single page documents in lossless quality.
Resolution: Sets the dpi or dots per inch of the image. The higher the dpi the more detailed the image and the larger the file size will be. The default dpi is 150.
Colors: Sets the amount of colors that should be used when converting to PNG format. The best and highest setting is 24 bit color.
TIF (Tagged Image File) format is used for multi page documents.
Resolution: Sets the dpi or dots per inch of the image. The higher the dpi the more detailed the image and the larger the file size will be. The default dpi is 150.
Colors: Sets the amount of colors that should be used when converting to TIF format. The best and highest setting is 24 bit color.
Extracts the text from a document into a txt file with the selected encoding.