How To Turn Any Printable Doc Into A PDF

Why waste all that paper and ink printing out Web receipts and other documents when you can save them as Adobe PDF files? The benefits are myriad.

There are many PDF printing utilities available, but my favorite is PrimoPDF. This utility lets you save anything printable as a PDF file.

Installation is straightforward, except for the following caveat: Do not install the Install NitroPDF Reader. If you're already using Acrobat or another free PDF reader, you don't need it.

Navigate to the site or document you want to save as a PDF. (In this example, I'm using the prelaunch BYTE.com website.)

Open the Print dialog box. Here, I'm selecting Print from the drop-down list in Google Chrome OS.

Under General, select PrimoPDF as the printer. Click Print.

PrimoPDF will launch automatically. The default settings worked fine for me, but play around if you like. You can customize quality, color, and properties. Once you're done, click Create PDF.

The Save As dialog box will open. Choose a name and a location for the PDF. I find it easiest to store all of these files in one folder for easy access. Click Save.

You are done! The saved PDF will open automatically for viewing. Here the entire BYTE.com home page is saved as a two-page document. The PDF does not mirror the website's formatting exactly, but all the information is there.

Based in Pasadena, CA, Seth Heringer is a senior contributor at BYTE. Follow him @sethHeringer or send an email at [email protected].