Comments on: Converting Excel to PDF – Everything you need to know

By: Johan Vitalis

Johan Vitalis — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:00:05 +0000

I found an interesting bug in converting Excel 2007 SP2 files to pdf. On some files with images when there is an Adobe Acrobat pdf instance open (any pdf file will do) the pdf conversion has some artifacts. Closing down all open pdf instances and converting xlsx file to pdf again fixes the problem.

Hope that helps some one.

PS. Yes I did apply the http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973402/en-us fix

By: Annika

Annika — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:00:35 +0000

@Chandoo, well, I didn’t convert to Linux only for making pdfs. I did it because I was so sick and tired of Microsoft running my computer instead of myself. WinXP is ok, but Vista is the worst I have ever experienced in computers. When you work on deadlines, you have to run 3 computers simultaneously because one is always bogged down by windows updates.
So, yes, I am very happy with the decision and I will never go back to Windows.
Your blogg renders well on Linux, but I won’t need anymore advise on Windows…
Check out Ubuntulinux.org and try it!

By: Chandoo

Chandoo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:14:26 +0000

@Annika… Linux, really ?!? Just so that you can make PDFs?

All the best.

PS: Does my blog render well on linux x-windows?

By: Annika

Annika — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:10:28 +0000

I have finally figured out the absolutely best way to go. I converted my computer systems to Linux. Everything works wonderfully! There is no boot up time, there are no frustrating update processes requiring restarts, there are no windows crashes and no wasted time reading through hundreds of Microsoft pages for trouble shooting solutions.
If you want to get rid of the bloat ware and head aches forever, switch to Linux. There is no reason not to. You can install over 2000 free software to use, ranging from graphic design to computer programming. You don’t get viruses. You don’t have to pay all these licensing fees. And number one, you don’t have to deal with Microsoft ever again!
By the way, all your windows based documents and work files you have, will open in Linux applications. You can also install and run Linux on you windows computer as a separate partition. You will be able to access all the windows files from Linux.
I continued working with the Excel files I had problems with in windows and they opened fine in Open Office spreadsheet. Converting to pdf is a piece of cake, you just click “export as pdf” and it’s done.
The only thing I regret is that I didn’t do it years ago. There is no going back to windows.
Y’all have a great day!

By: ml

ml — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:17:49 +0000

Many thx for this KB973402 hotfix Alex !!

By: Grantem2000

Grantem2000 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:17:04 +0000

7-PDF Maker is a free conversion tool and, unlike the various PDF printers mentioned above, it preserves hyperlinks. So far the OpenOffice route has done all I need re hyperlinks to date and I haven’t yet tried 7-PDF Maker myself but it is well-regarded; see for example the review and discussion here:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/free-pdf-converter.htm

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:29:27 +0000

At last! This problem has been bugging me for months on my work PC

Now I just need to get IT to install it!

Thanks

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:55:41 +0000

Julie -

If you designed the spreadsheet so it looked the way you want at 100%, does it work then? Excel sometimes has issues at zooms other than 100%.

By: Chandoo

Chandoo — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:03:16 +0000

@Julie… I have faced similar problems too. I think excel “save as PDF” is mucking up design if the spreadsheet is too complicated (too many shapes, live pictures, charts, vba controls) I havent found a solution to this yet.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:45:08 +0000

I used microsoft 2007 save as pdf, but it doesn’t zoom to the size I want. It doesn’t take the page set up at all. Any one knows how to work with this issue? Thanks a lot.