Comments on: Printing to PDF

By: Larraine

Larraine — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:39:52 +0000

I use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. It has a reputation for being able to withstand a lot of the things that Explorer is subject to. So far it has worked well. You can get a lot of add-ons and one of them is called Web to PDF. By the way, Firefox is a free download as well.

By: SajiNoKami

SajiNoKami — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:09:20 +0000

I understand the whole “save as pdf”
that show up in the print dialogue boxes,
but what if I want to print to pdf?
as though it was a selectable printer…

any ideas?

By: Tatiana

Tatiana — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:27:44 +0000

I love using pdf files for recipes. Now, rather than printing out recipes I find online, I just print to a pdf. I even scan recipes from magazines & newspapers. So much better than all those crazy binders full of cutouts and printouts.

As for online order confirmations, I generally leave the confirmation page open until the confirmation email arrives (they usually come pretty quickly). I keep the emails in an Outlook folder called “Order Confirmations”, and then move the email to a subfolder called “Received” when the item arrives, and until I reconcile my credit card statement. This way, I can see what orders haven’t arrived yet.

By: Tenali

Tenali — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:44:52 +0000

If you don’t want to install a PDF writer, even if free, you can still save a “confirmation Page” or any webpage for that matter by going to File > Save As, and then from the drop down box “Save as type” (under ‘File name’), choose Web Archive, Single File (*.mht).

Any webpage can be saved like this in a single file on your deskop or any other folder without the need to print.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:55:17 +0000

I’ve been doing this for receipts for online bill paying since last year. It never occurred to me that this was being…Uncluttered (duh!). The PDF files cover pretty much any online transactions I make.

By: Nat

Nat — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:21:29 +0000

Another good one for Firefox (a bit like Scrapbook) is the Fireshot plugin. Does the same as scapbook but it saves the page as a graphics file (jpg of png from memory).

By: Cyphase

Cyphase — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:28:29 +0000

I use the Scrapbook extension for Firefox for things like online receipts ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427 ), but as for Linux, many distros have built-in support for printing to PDF (I know Ubuntu does for sure). No set up required.

By: Elena

Elena — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:37:56 +0000

I usually just save the webpage as a file for future reference. File, Save as, name the file, file type “html” basic. That way it saves the entire page and allows me to see things beyond the bottom of the screen.

By: julia

julia — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:22:36 +0000

I’ve been doing this awhile, too. As well as scanning in physical paper forms/receipts/bills I don’t need to have on paper. They are all stored as PDF.

Speaking of Quicken, there is a home inventory program where you can attach files as PDF or images such as receipts to prove what you bought, when and how much it cost for insurance purposes. No need to have paper clutter, just file it all away in Quicken (and then save a backup copy off-site!)

The nice thing about saving as a PDF is that the contents are then searchable. You can use the Adobe Acrobat search feature to scan all your PDFs for specific content inside them. Try searching through a pile of papers for a specific word!

By: Michael Henreckson

Michael Henreckson — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:50:44 +0000

I’ve been printing to PDF for years and it is a total lifesaver. Another big benefit is that Quicken supports attaching PDFs as receipt/bill images. It makes it a lot easier to see what exactly you were buying with each transaction because you can just quickly look up the attachment.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:01:08 +0000

Once I have things saved in PDFs- not even just confirmations, but lengthy documents I do not want to print out, reference-file materials to save, and such – I keep them organized in Yep ( http://www.yepthat.com/ ), which is the best, most intuitive thing designed for these occasions.

I have even managed to get my mother using Yep on her home computer to scan-and-save years of travel and cooking magazine clippings she used to keep in baskets, which I consider my life’s greatest triumph on behalf of technology and a major endorsement of the ease and efficiency of the program.

By: spark

spark — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:56:31 +0000

I’m with Catherine on this too….print screen works just as well, and you don’t have to download anything. Good post.

By: subash

subash — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:37:06 +0000

I simply use Google notebook plug in for Firefox and do a “clip this” or select, cut and paste as a clip

That way all of the numbers are in search-able form in Google notebook ( I create a notebook called confirmation numbers and receipts) and I can search by name of utility provider etc. or simply browse through the receipts.

The Google notebook plug-in sits conveniently in the status bar and also provides for right click menu items for clip this

By: catherine

catherine — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:23:48 +0000

What I do is take a screen capture (open apple, shift, 3 on the Mac or Print Screen on the PC) and save it to a file on the desktop. Then when the transaction goes through, I delete the file.

This is mostly helpful when you just need to record the confirmation number, not the whole document…

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:28:00 +0000

I use “print to PDF” to save my (free) credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. Sure beats all that wasted paper!

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:23:56 +0000

I love this and do this all the time. I did all my taxes on the computer. At the the end it tells you to print everything for your records and found print to PDF here. I also found that I can password protect these files so that can not be viewed or copied or moved. I love it this is great. I now use this all the time. I also take screen shots or little snaps of certain areas of information like my login Info for later. I am now using this more often. Why print to paper anymore except those family pictures there is no point.

By: Joy

Joy — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:22:12 +0000

I do this with all order confirmations and confirmations of online payments. I save them all to a folder called pending transactions. I label them with the payment date and account. So if my Sears CC payment will be deducted from my checking account on April 20, I save the file as 20AprilSears. It makes it very easy for me to make sure deductions were made and to see what will be coming out when. Then I just delete as soon as the order arrives (with an invoice) or the debit (for payments) posts to my account.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:11:09 +0000

Hello, Reader Matthew here. A good link for figuring out Linux CUPS printing to PDF is here:
http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/20.....-cups-pdf/

(aimed at Ubuntu, but probably portable)

I can second Emma’s comment about deleting the PDF later – I just deleted 12 Xmas present receipts – from 2006! Also, the GPL route for Windows is much nicer.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:38:38 +0000

If you’re on a Mac there is a PDF management software called Yep (yepthat.com). You can install a bookmarklet in your browser that will turn any web page into a PDF and send it to your Yep for tagging and organizing.

By: Ann at One Bag Nation

Ann at One Bag Nation — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:37:58 +0000

This post couldn’t have been more timely. I just now placed an order online and went through my usual “do I really need to print or even save this?” routine, especially since I’m trying so hard to reduce clutter and waste in my life.

Thanks for the tips!