Converting HTML files into PDF

[tgr430]

Hi,

I have a web site with links that goes into other web pages. I have about 50 links.

I want to take these HTML web pages and convert them into one big PDF file.

My questions are:

1) Is there any other software out there besides Adobe Acrobat to do this?

2) Is Adobe Acrobat Reader and Writer 2 different software packages?

3) Is there some way I can include a search capability into the one big PDF file that I am going to create other than book marks?

Thank you in advance for all your help. Have a great day!

Terry

 

[frameuser]

I've never tried this, but, if I had to, the first place I'd look for a tool would be in the Tools sections of planetpdf.com or pdfzone.com. You might find something there to do this.

Also, I don't know what you mean when you say "Writer 2." Are you talking about Adobe Acrobat v. Adobe Reader (formerly Adobe Acrobat Reader)?

Rick Henkel
Senior Systems Developer

http://frameuser.docspages.com

 

[tgr430]

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your reply. I checked a few of the web sites out including pdfzone but haven't checked the other one (planetpdf) yet but I will do it soon.

I was wondering if there was any good ones that you would recommend or are they all about the same?

Also, when I said 2 I ment two, not a second version. To be more clear, Is Adobe Reader and Writer different software packages? The organization that I am in only has Adobe Reader installed on the computers but not the Writer. It think with the reader you can only view the PDF files and with the Writer you can create and edit the files. I hope this makes sense.

Thanks again for your help.

Terry

 

[frameuser]

I guess that's where I was confused. There isn't an Adobe product called Writer. There's Adobe Reader, which only allows you to read PDF files, and there's Adobe Acrobat, which allows you to create, edit, and do other stuff to PDF files. Starting with version 6, there are now even different flavors of Acrobat that let you do different things.

I can't really give any recommendations 'cause I've never messed with HTML to PDF.

Rick Henkel
Senior Systems Developer

http://frameuser.docspages.com

 

[tgr430]

Yeah, I know what you mean Rick. I wasn't very clear either cause I didn't know. Theres Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader but I don't think there's anything called Adobe Writer. I appreciate you clarifying that for me. I'll check the Adobe Website for more details.

Thanks Again for your help.

Terry

 

[frameuser]

acrobat.com gives you a good description of the different products.

Rick Henkel
Senior Systems Developer

http://frameuser.docspages.com

 

[Eggles]

There used to be something called PDF Writer that Adobe included with older verions of Acrobat. It was intended solely for use with making PDFs out of text-only files. It did a terrible job with graphics, which is why I think they removed it. There is also something called PDF Maker, that converts Microsoft files to PDF. Again, it doesn't do a very good job with graphics, but better than the Writer ever did.

A search on google showed there ARE products that will convert HTML to PDF, such as this one, which says 'Acrobat's new Web Capture Plugin (included in version 4.0+) can convert a Web page or an entire Web site into a single Acrobat PDF file, including graphics and links'.

http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?WebPageID=751

also:

http://www.easysw.com/htmldoc/

 

[mkrausnick]

Eggles: One of the tools provided with Adobe Acrobat 5 is the PDFWRITER printer driver, which is almost flawless in its creation of PDF files by "printing" to the driver from any source, microsoft or otherwise. I utilize it constantly for creating PDF files from MSOffice documents and reports from other software applications. In Acrobat 6 the driver is called simply "Adobe PDF". Maybe I haven't been using Acrobat as long as you, but I've never experienced any difficulties using the Acrobat PDFWriter.

I know this doesn't solve Terry's problem, but I wanted to set the record straight on PDFWriter.

Terry, In a recent search I did looking for a tool to go the other way, I found many many results that do HTML to PDF. So far I haven't had any luck finding a good PDF to HTML solution.

Mike Krausnick
Dublin, California

 

[Eggles]

Mike

>>I utilize it constantly for creating PDF files from MSOffice documents and reports from other software applications.<<

Any graphics in those Microsoft files? Probably not - or not much more than some simple logo GIFs or the like?

I said &quot;It [PDF Writer] was intended solely for use with making PDFs out of text-only files&quot;, and I still contend that to be the case, although I probably should have emphasised that the job that it did with text-only files was perfecty acceptable.

 

[Eggles]

Oh - by the way, I thought that I had answered the original poster's question re HTML to PDF.

>> 'Acrobat's new Web Capture Plugin (included in version 4.0+) can convert a Web page or an entire Web site into a single Acrobat PDF file, including graphics and links'.

http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?WebPageID=751<<

 

[mkrausnick]

Eggles,
Any graphics in those Microsoft files? Probably not - or not much more than some simple logo GIFs or the like?

As a matter of fact there are - I do two weekly newsletters with photos, splash icons, logos, etc - up to 8 pages at a time. These are MS Publisher files, which are notoriously hard to work with, and the only time there's trouble is when Publisher has to make a font substitution. I just disagree with your statement that PDFWriter is intended only for printing of text files. In my experience it's a standard printer driver that can handle anything a printer can. That said, it's not my preferred solution - I'd much rather be producing straight HTML. But the newsletter authors prefer Publisher, which doesn't produce anything close to acceptable HTML, so PDFWriter is my solution. I finally installed Adobe 6 and tried its HTML output - U-G-L-Y!

Mike Krausnick
Dublin, California

 

[frameuser]

&quot;I just disagree with your statement that PDFWriter is intended only for printing of text files.&quot;

It's not just Eggles' statement; it's also Adobe's. That's why they've done away with PDFWriter.

The Adobe PDF driver in Acrobat 6 actually replaced the Acrobat Distiller driver, not the PDFWriter driver. Adobe made PDFWriter an optional install with Acrobat 5. (I think it was buried somewhere in the install to discourage people from using it.) They completed removed it from the Acrobat 6 install.

If you haven't had any problems with it, then you might as well keep using it. But it's not what Adobe recommends, and it causes lots of problems of others who have tried it.

Rick Henkel
Senior Systems Developer

http://frameuser.docspages.com

 

[mkrausnick]

Hmmm, that's something I didn't know. I just installed Acrobat V6 yesterday and it installed a printer driver called &quot;Adobe PDF&quot;. I assumed they just renamed the PDFWriter driver. In any case it allows me to create a PDF file from within any app by simply &quot;printing&quot; to the driver, so it's transparent to me, except for the fact that it invokes Acrobat when finished.

Mike Krausnick
Dublin, California

 

[Eggles]

>>I just installed Acrobat V6 yesterday and it installed a printer driver called &quot;Adobe PDF&quot;<<

It will be Distiller, not the PDF Writer.