Foxit reader’s abilities to create PDFs & control the output

[Argus]

I know that we have several Loungers using Foxit Reader (as well as other products such as Sumatra beside Adobe Reader). Since some version ago it is possible to do some other tasks with Foxit Reader, I'm thinking about the possibility to create (and "printing") PDF files. Now most know it is possible to save a file as PDF in recent Office versions, and I have that possibility, but the files a rather big, even if checking "small size" for online publishing, or similar; a simple test generates a file 5-6 times bigger, say 100 kB instead of 15-16 kB as could be created with other tools (used on older OS versions). It can of course be due to how it handles different fonts etc. I have not looked closer at that.

But size isn't my main interest; rather my main focus is what settings there are to control the output. These are usually very limited, such as title or perhaps password to open (as in Office's "Save as"), if not using a PDF editor/creator.

My question is what can Foxit Reader do when creating new PDFs?

• Restrict copying, printing?
• Control the zoom level, i.e. what type of view when opened in a PDF reader?

[PDF printers/creators/editors must be software #1, among freeware and shareware, when it comes to bundling PUPs or adding other nasty features; as seen if doing a simple research or following the news over some time. ]

[HansV]

Foxit Reader acts as a PDF printer; as far as I know it does not offer options to restrict copying or editing as far as I know, nor view options. The commercial version Foxit PhantomPDF may offer more in this respect, I haven't investigated it.

[Argus]

I guessed that was the case, Hans; otherwise they would have mentioned something on their page, but I didn't know if there were more possibilities say via script or other hidden settings, and thought it would be easy to answer for anyone using the software.

And later on, looking at the manual, which I could have done instead of the post above, confirms this. So far I know that PDFCreator and probably PrimoPDF and Nitro Reader can control some of these things, such as file meta data, restrictions and zoom level, when creating PDF files. (Even "simple" PDF printers can have a small dialogue box to tweak some of these settings.)

[HansV]

The PDF printer that comes with Foxit Reader does have a settings dialog, but restricting copying/editing is not among the settings.

[HansV]

These are the editable tabs of the Printing Preferences dialog for the Foxit Reader PDF printer:

S0409.png

S0410.png

S0411.png

S0412.png

[Leif]

In the paid version, the General, Layout, Fonts and Document Info tabs appear much as Hans has shown, but you also get the option to set Watermarks, Headers/Footers, and this Security settings window:

x.jpg

[HansV]

Thanks, Leif!

[Argus]

Thank you, gentlemen!

[AlanMiller]

Hi Argus

I have used the Solid PDF Creator printer driver and it offers a multitude of options in terms of metadata and permissions.

I also use the (oldie but a goodie) PDFTK Builder to edit the above on existing PDFs.

pdftkb.png

Details here http://www.angusj.com/pdftkb/#pdftkbuilder

HTH
Alan

[AlanMiller]

Just to add some shots of Solid PDF Creator:

[AlanMiller]

And the last one

[HansV]

Thanks, Alan!

[Argus]

Hi Argus

I have used the Solid PDF Creator printer driver and it offers a multitude of options in terms of metadata and permissions.

I also use the (oldie but a goodie) PDFTK Builder to edit the above on existing PDFs.

Hi Alan,
Long time no see; good to hear from you.
Thank you, I will take a look at that one. I have earlier used with, quite some success, PDFCreator by pdfforge.
(I know that there are a couple different programs out there with similar names, "PDF Creator" and "PDFCreator", some free some not; I guess the one you mention, from Solid Documents, is the one that comes in both a free and a paid version, sort of.)

The old PDFCreator was used on Windows XP some years ago; then there were discussions about potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) included post version 0.9.6, so I didn't upgrade. However, that one doesn't work on Windows 7. I think. (I have also used PDF995 a long time ago, and I think I evaluated Bullzip and some other PDF printer.)

So, I have a small project evaluating one of latest versions of PDFCreator, 2, in one of the virtual machines. (I know that it comes with OpenCandy, this time, a PUP, but if there is no connection to the net during installation it will not suggest software (to download), and post installation there is a DLL-file linked to OpenCandy in a temporary folder in the user's Temp folder, but it's removed after a restart. I'm going to take a closer look if there are any unwanted changes.) But I have not yet finished that evaluation.

Another problem, apart from eventual PUPs(!), being able to set restrictions or edit metadata, is page view. I.e. if opened in full page view, the whole document, say 68 %, which seems to be the default in PDFCreator, or if one can set it to open in 100 %, original size. I know I had to do quite some research to find how to edit the "before saving-script" in the old version of PDFCreator. Now, however, it seems like they have changed to batch files from VBS, and I don't know if the old syntax will work.

[AlanMiller]

Hi Argus

I have used the Solid PDF Creator printer driver and it offers a multitude of options in terms of metadata and permissions.

I also use the (oldie but a goodie) PDFTK Builder to edit the above on existing PDFs.

Hi Alan,
Long time no see; good to hear from you.
Thank you, I will take a look at that one. I have earlier used with, quite some success, PDFCreator by pdfforge.
(I know that there are a couple different programs out there with similar names, "PDF Creator" and "PDFCreator", some free some not; I guess the one you mention, from Solid Documents, is the one that comes in both a free and a paid version, sort of.)

Hope you're keeping well mate. I totally relate to the profusion (confusion?) of all those options you mention - PUPs, free/pay features etc. Hopefully those I've mentioned will fit the bill for you. I'm pretty judicious in nuking anything that smells of unwanted "features" and the ones I've mentioned (at least the versions I have) are clean and do as advertised... without advertisements though... if you see what I mean.

Just as an aside, my own method for producing (non-trivial) PDFs is to use a MS Word doc as the source. You get all the feature-rich Word capabilities but most significantly, if you use an outline structure (based on Heading levels) you can easily maintain a TOC. From there (and this is the comparatively laborious bit) you can save a version of the source as HTML then use HTMLDOC to get that handy fly-out nested TOC in your PDF. It's pretty neat, but a bit of work. If you want/need more info I can dig deeper.

I'll be interested in your final assessment once you separate all the chaff from the wheat. Good to chat again.

cheers
Alan