Here are 2 open source PDF printer software for Windows. These software install as a virtual printer on your PC and helps to convert a text, image, Doc, or other files as PDF documents. Instead of generating a hard copy of a file, you get the output as PDF file using these virtual and open source PDF printer software. As the software, you’re using is installed as a virtual printer, so it can be used from any application which supports Print command, be it Notepad, MS Word, a browser, or some other text editor software.
I have covered “PDFCreator” and “PDF Scribe” virtual PDF printers on this list. Both software are very simple and good enough to get the output as PDF file by just using the Print command.
Let’s check these open source PDF printer software one by one.
PDFCreator
PDFCreator is one of my favorites when it comes to open source PDF printer software. It can also be integrated with Windows context menu which makes it a bit special. Instead of opening a text or Doc file in Notepad or MS Word, then using Print command and taking the help of Print window to convert that file to PDF, you can simply right-click on a file and press “Convert with PDFCreator” option.
After using its context menu option, its interface will open where you can set output file name, author name, output folder, etc., and save the file as PDF document. Though other option, which is to use Print window, is also available for generating the PDF file, its right-click context menu option is easier. You can try any of these two options provided by this open source PDF printer.
The software is pretty simple and therefore I like it. But, you must be very careful during the installation process. It offers bundleware in the installation process. You must choose custom installation to skip the installation of third-party products, Internet Explorer integration, etc.
PDF Scribe
PDF Scribe is another handy open source PDF printer and you won’t find any problem while using it. All you have to do is install the software and it will be visible in the list of installed printers. After that, you can convert any text file, image, or other documents to PDF with the help of this software.
Just press Ctrl+P or File menu to use Print option in an application. When the Print box is opened, select “PDF Scribe” from the list of available printers and then you can get the print of input file as PDF document. This software doesn’t come with any interface or context menu option, like available in PDFCreator. All it gives is its virtual printer that can help you convert a file to PDF.
The Conclusion:
Though there are tons of PDF printer software available for free (check the list here), not all of them are open source. Therefore, you will find these open source PDF printer software helpful. A couple of other similar tools are also there but those are malicious so I didn’t add them here. If you know some other open source PDF printer that can be added to this list, then you may share it.
