When using Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel or Publisher, there is an option to Save as PDF that will create a PDF document. This is a trial service offered by PDF Complete that will need to be purchased or else their logo will sit at the top of any PDF file you create after the trial.

If you are looking for functions like creating a searchable PDF file, or forms that can be filled in and saved, the ability to combine documents into one PDF file or to delete, insert, rotate and move pages, this product, for under $50, could be for you.

However, if you are just looking to create a PDF file from a single program there are free programs out there to use. A search on Google for “free PDF software” will bring about a lot of different free software available for creating PDFs.

After trying several different free PDF programs, my preference clearly became Bullzip PDF Printer. After downloading the software and installing it on my computer, I was ready to start creating PDF files. Bullzip PDF Printer installs as a printer driver and will appear in the drop down box listing printers on the print screen.

Bullzip PDF Printer prints black and white or color and has a multitude of page sizes to choose from. There are graphic controls such as scaling, color management and print quality from 72 dpi to 4000 dpi. Advanced document options include postscript and printer features such as color model settings, image compression and embedding fonts. There are also different print modes including screen, eBook, press and print.

To use Bullzip PDF Printer simply select Print as you would to print any document. When the printer dialogue box opens, select “Bullzip PDF Printer” from the drop down menu. In the Print window you can select all the same things you select when printing to a regular printer -- what pages to print, how many copies, odd or even pages. Clicking on Properties allows you to choose layout and black and white or color printing. From here you can access the Advanced features by clicking the button at the bottom of the window. Here is where the graphic controls and printer features can be changed.

Once you click Okay the “Bullzip PDF Printer - Create File” dialogue box appears. Bullzip PDF Printer will also save in other formats including JPEG, EPS, PNG and BMP. There are additional options for adding a watermark, controlling document and image quality, append the file to the top or bottom of an existing PDF file and password protect the file.

Options Set is set to default. You can either change the default options or create a new options set. This is where you could set the options for watermark, image quality, etc. and save it, kind of like creating a template. File name is very important to look at. In this space is not only the file name but also the location of the file. Clicking on the small box with the three dots will give you the opportunity to change the location for the file to be saved. If you want the document to open after it is created, check the box next to “Open the document after creation.” Once all choices are selected, click Save and you are done.

Bullzip PDF Printer software can be downloaded from www.bullzip.com for free. Once downloaded, there are only two steps to install it. After it is installed, it is ready to use.