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Printing Less

By Cate Eales
Appeared February 7, 2008 on castanet.net

Print what you want --- no more, no less. Print to a PDF file. It's free and easy.

Save some paper, save some ink, maybe save a few trees
Have you heard about a program called GreenPrint? When you are ready to print a document, GreenPrint will highlight any pages it thinks are "wasteful" and give you the opportunity to print them or not. You can easily remove images from pages before you print, saving ink. GreenPrint will track how much paper and ink you save over time. The free version should work well for most home users; there are paid versions for businesses. All versions are available here

Interestingly, GreenPrint also lets you create a PDF document. PDF stands for "Portable Document Format" and was invented by Adobe in the early 1990's. The "Portable" part is important because it means that the document can be read on lots of different computers running lots of different programs. If you've even sent a Word document to someone who didn't have Word, you will appreciate being able to create a document "understood" by a computer that doesn't have the same program you have. (So will the other person!) The PDF document looks just like the original document. The fonts, colours, charts, graphs, pictures, and layout are preserved. All you need to read a PDF document is...wait for it ... a PDF reader!

Adobe Reader is only one choice
Remembering that Adobe invented the PDF format, it makes sense that the original PDF reader was from Adobe. It used to be called Adobe Acrobat Reade. Now, several versions later, it's properly called Adobe Reader. The "Acrobat" comes into it because the program that created PDF files was called Adobe Acrobat. These days, when you visit a website or install a program from a CD, you often see a variation on the phrase "Adobe Reader required."

Well, folks, that's just not the case. Adobe Reader was the standard for a long time, but there are other PDF readers that are not the slow, bloated, rude program that Adobe Reader has become. A more accurate description of the situation would be "Any PDF reader is required."

You don't need Adobe Reader for PDF files

Foxit Reader is a free, lightweight alternative to Adobe Reader. You can get it here. If you've been using Adobe Reader, you will be shocked how much faster Foxit opens up and loads your document. Another free alternative is PDF-XChange Viewer, which you can grab here. In addition to being faster than Adobe Reader, and unlike Foxit Reader, PDF-XChange Viewer will allow you to do some rudimentary editing of PDF documents, like completing forms.

If you must have Adobe Reader, it's free, and available here. Be sure to clear the check box for Photoshop Album Starter Edition, unless you really want it. I hate it that the box is selected for me before I even get to the page.

Create your own PDF files
As I mentioned, Adobe Acrobat is the best known and the original program you can use to create PDF documents. The problem is, it costs about $US500.

If you sometimes need to create a PDF file from a document, web page, spreadsheet, or just about anything at all, you can use GreenPrint. If you don't need all the other features of GreenPrint, try PrimoPDF. Like GreenPrint, PrimoPDF acts just like another printer. So when you get ready to print a document, instead of choosing your Canon, HP, or other hardware printer, choose PrimoPDF or GreenPrint, and you will create your own PDF file. PrimoPDF is available here, and now works with Vista.

Thank you to everyone who emailed questions, comments, and suggestions. Please email cate@rlis.com with more of those! You can also browse the column archives at any time by pointing your browser here. If you'd like to subscribe to this column by email, please visit this link. It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the RSS Feed, click here.

Links
SGreenPrint http://www.printgreener.com/index.html
Foxit Reader http://www.download.com/Foxit-PDF-Reader/3000-2079_4-10313206.html
PDF-XChange Viewer http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/PDF-XChange_Tools/pdfx_viewer
Adobe Reader http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618
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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.

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