PDF files, and other questions

[NSolano]

I have a pdf file that has a letterhead made for my company. I would like to be able to type in stuff into the letterhead page so that I can print it out, is that possible?? or do I have to actually go to Kinko's and get them to print out hundreds of pages with my company letterhead so that I may use it to print out documents?
Wouldn't it be easier for me to save it as a word document that already has the letterhead on it and type in stuff. Please give me some good feedback, thanks.

 

[MikeMoss]

Hi

Yes you probably need to have the letterhead printed unless you have a program like Adobe Illustrator that will open a PDF file in a format that can be modified. I work with PDF files everyday most print jobs go to printers in PDF format now.

I design menus and send them in PDF format, half my income comes from the client having to come back to me to get changes made because they can’t edit the PDF files themselves.

It is possible to modify PDF files with the full version of Adobe Acrobat but it really isn't suited to doing what you want and I believe that the original has to be formatted in the proper way to do so.

If you want to type your letters in Microsoft Word the best way is just to have the letter head printed and then format your page in Word to fit it.

If you really want to type your letters in the PDF file then Adobe Illustrator is probably your best bet. It is easy to work with type and will resave the final file as a PDF file so that it can be accessed and changed later.

There may be other programs that open and edit PDF files but I’m only familiar with the ones from Adobe, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Indesign (the program that I’m using).

Of these Illustrator is by far the least expensive.

Hope this helps

Mike

 

[MikeMoss]

PS.

You will find Illustrator nothing at all like Microsoft Word to use, so consider the fact that there will be some learning to do too. It is actually much better as far as having nice looking type line spacing and everything is adjustable and you can put a picture anyplace you want, not just inline like Word, but you will have to learn to use it.

Mike

 

[gpalmer711]

The other option if you are happy to print these on your own machine is to print off the letter head from acrobat reader and then type your letter in word and print on the sheet you just printed from acrobat reader.

You will need to set up the margins and such in word so you don't type in spaces where your letterhead content is.

I agree with Mike the adobe programs are not for the feint hearted. They are great tools that I use on a regular basis but take some getting used to.

You can also find some pretty cheap printers that will print your letterhead for little more that it would cost to print yourself.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[MikeMoss]

Hi

A good point, there is no reason that you can't print a dozen sheets on your inkjet and then run them through again to ad the letter.

However if you are going to do a lot of letters, then it is probably cheaper to go to a commercial printer and get a couple of thousand sheets printed. This would lower the cost per sheet to only a few cents per sheet, much less then the cost of printing on a inkjet printer. The more you get printed at one time the cheaper it will be per sheet.

Mike

 

[avanderlaan]

If you can program in VB6 or the like there are software components that would allow you to do what you want from a simple user interface.

 

[Pleonasm]

pdfFactory is a 'PDF virtual printer' utility that allows the use of a letterhead template, and you may wish to test it. I use this utility, and it works very, very well.

See:

http://www.FinePrint.com

 

[NSolano]

thanks for the help, yeah I am just going to get these pages printed so that I may use them for letters. I don't think there is any other way to do it, I did figure out the margin sizes and everything, so thanks for the help.