FYI for those who want a PDF writer. KRron
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 4:23 PM Subject: FW: Help For EAA Chapter Newsletter Editors > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Troy Toelle [mailto:ttoe...@eaa.org] > Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 1:16 PM > Subject: Help For EAA Chapter Newsletter Editors > > > Are you looking for some more articles for your Chapter Newsletter? Check > out the Aircraft Building Articles in the Homebuilders Headquarters area > of > the EAA Web Site: > http://members.eaa.org/home/homebuilders/building/list.html > Feel free to use these articles in your Chapter Newsletters. You can > simply > copy and paste these articles into your Chapter Newsletter, we do ask that > you include the author's info as well as the publication that it was > originally posted in. > > More help... > > Paul Ray, Newsletter Editor, EAA Chapter 768 (Apple Valley, CA), has > shared > some info about a useful tool that may be of interest to you (see below). > > Creating Electronic Newsletters using the Adobe PDF Format > > Attention all Chapter Newsletter Editors! If you use a text editor > (WordPad), Word, PowerPoint, or Excel to create your newsletter, a PDF > file > can be created to send an electronic version to your membership. PDF > writers > can be expensive but there is a free version that I've been using for over > one year without any problems. > > Actually, there is no such thing as "free software" but if you're willing > to > put up with a pop-up advertisement when creating a PDF file, then you will > save a lot of money using this free product. If you want to eliminate the > pop-up ads, paying a one-time fee of $9.95 to the authors will get you a > special "key" to turn off all advertising. > > Why use PDF files? An informal poll during the Chapter Newsletter Editor > Forum during AirVenture showed that most Chapter Newsletter Editors want > to > send their newsletter electronically as an attachment to email. If done > correctly it saves a lot of time (printing copies) and expense (paper and > postage). If a portable format is used then any recipient can read and/or > print copies without any special or expensive software. Adobe designed the > PDF - Portable Data Format - for anyone to quickly and easily print > documents. All PDF files can be read and printed on PCs or Macs using free > software from Adobe. > > Some Editors use Microsoft Word but I have found this to be problematic. > If > the recipient does not have Microsoft Word the document cannot be opened > for > reading and printing. If the recipient does have Word but does not have > the > exact same fonts used in the newsletter, the received document may look > very > different than the original created by the Editor. The reason is simple: > the > font information is stored with the DOC file and depends on the receiving > PC > or Mac to have the same fonts (and a copy of Microsoft Word). When a PDF > file is generated, the complete font information along with margins, > graphics, and pictures, are included in the PDF file so the receiving PC > or > Mac requires nothing except the PDF reader. And, it's free from Adobe! > > The free PDF writer is available from www.pdf995.com. It requires a PC > running Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, NT 4.0, or XP. The steps to download and > install the free version of the PDF writer are very simple and require two > major steps - download the two required files and save them on your > Desktop, > and install the software. Each section, below, covers these two major > steps. > For those familiar with accessing the Internet, downloading, saving, and > installing files, you can skip all the steps, below, and go www.pdf995.com > and follow the directions. > > Downloading the free PDF writer: > > 1. After booting up your PC use a modem or broadband device and connect to > the Internet. > 2. Using Explorer or Netscape enter the URL address: > http://www.pdf995.com. > If Explorer or Netscape is not obvious on the desktop (main PC screen) > click > on Start and then look at the Programs list. Click on the web browser your > PC has installed. > 3. There are three products offered for download. Click on Download Now at > the end of the Pdf995 paragraph. This is the first paragraph. > 4. The new screen will display several boxes with options. In the top box > labeled Pdf995 2-Step click on Download after Pdf995 Printer Driver. This > creates a communication link between your system and the PDF995 web site > to > download and save a file on your PC. This file is the printer driver. > > What is a printer driver? Simply stated a printer driver is the software > contained in your PC that "talks" to your printer and converts the > information on the screen into the various electronic commands that cause > ink to appear on paper showing exactly what is on your screen. PDF files > are > created by "printing" your document to a file that ends in the PDF file > name > (i.e., OctoberNewsletter.PDF) instead of actually printing on your > printer. > In order for the PDF software to act as a "virtual printer" a special > printer driver is needed. > 5. The next box that will pop up asks if you want to Open, Save, Cancel, > or > More Info. Click on Save and another window will appear that is the > default > location of where this file will be saved. This first line of this box is > the location and should say "Save in Desktop". If it says "Desktop" go > ahead > with Step 6. If not, click on the pull-down (down arrow) to the right of > "Save in", and then click on Desktop. > 6. The default name at the bottom of the window is pdf995s.exe. Click Save > and the file will be downloaded and saved on your Desktop. This will take > some time - this file is 1.2 mega (million) bytes long. When the file > download is complete a new Window will open asking if you want to Open, > Open > Folder, or Close. Click on Close. > 7. In the browser window in the top box labeled Pdf995 2-Step click on > Download to the right of Free Converter. This creates a communication link > between your system and the PDF995 web site to download and save a file on > your PC. This file is the actual software that will convert your Doc file > into a PDF file. > 8. The next box that will pop up asks if you want to Open, Save, Cancel, > or > More Info. Click on Save and another window will appear that is the > default > location of where this file will be saved. This first line of this box is > the location and should say "Save in Desktop". If it says "Desktop" go > ahead > with Step 9. If not, click on the pull-down (down arrow) to the right of > "Save in", and then click on Desktop. > 9. The default name at the bottom of the window is ps2pdf995.exe. Click > Save > and the file will be downloaded and saved on your Desktop. This will take > some time - this file is 3.1 mega (million) bytes long. When the file > download is complete a new Window will open asking if you want to Open, > Open > Folder, or Close. Click on Close. > > Installing the free PDF writer: > > 1. Close your browser (Explorer or Netscape). Close or minimize all other > running applications so that your Desktop is shown on the screen. You will > have two new files on your Desktop - pdf99s.exe and ps2pdf995.exe. > 2. Double-click on pdf995s.exe and it will open and install. If you see a > warning that the Converter must be installed, click on OK. > 3. When the install of pdf995s.exe is complete, double-click on > ps2pdf995.exe and this will be installed. > > Testing the free PDF writer: > > Open a Word or WordPad window (by double-clicking on Microsoft Word or > WordPad icon) and load a document or type a brief text message. Click on > the > File drop-down menu and click on Print. The Printer box will have a Name > box > with a down arrow. Click on the arrow to see the list of available > printers. > There will be a new entry - PDF995. Click on this and a new window will > open > asking you for a name and location to save the PDF file. The file will be > converted to a PDF file and written to the disk in the location you > specified in this window. An advertisement will also appear using Explorer > or Netscape (depending on which Internet browser is your default). You can > close this window without affecting the function of the PDF writer. > > Did it work? > > If you have a copy of Adobe Acrobat (the PDF reader), click on this to > open > the PDF Reader, in the File pull-down menu click on Open, and go to the > file > you saved in the previous step. You should see your original document - > font, margins, color(s), graphics, pictures, etc., in Adobe Acrobat. > > If you don't have a copy of Adobe Acrobat it is available for free from > www.adobe.com. The link for this is: > http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html In the section on > Readers, > click on the system you have (Macintosh, Windows, etc.) and follow the > directions. > > Last step: > > If the PDF file you saved was your newsletter it is now ready to attach to > an email and send to your Chapter membership list. > > Using PDF files is an easy and fast way to send out your newsletter. > Assuming everyone already has a PC and/or Mac, the only expense is one > copy > of Microsoft Word for the editor; everyone else can use free software to > read and/or print the newsletter. > > Paul Ray is the Newsletter Editor for EAA Chapter 768 in Apple Valley CA. > He > can be reached at pd....@verizon.net > > > >
