PDF Creator and Alternatives - abcsoftware/abc-docs GitHub Wiki
PDF Creator is a free PDF printer with an API that allowed access for PDF functionality in ABC.
In the past PDFCreator 1.7.3 was included with ABC Client 4 installers. Version 14 auto-configures it for PDF creation when present. Version 15 auto-configures it for both PDF creation and emailing.
We removed it in later versions of ABC Client 4 installers because it is blocked by most antivirus software, as it includes bundled adware. It was possible to still install it manually by turning off antivirus software temporarily or excluding a folder from AV scans, and unchecking any adware options. However, we recommend using a current version of PDF Creator and manually configuring it to work with ABC.
- In
ABC Client Settings > Advanced Setup Options
, uncheck "Auto Configure PDF Creator." - Download and install PDFCreator. It comes bundled with PDF Architect, but you may skip installing it: Click the gear for Advanced Settings and uncheck PDF Architect, and then click "Skip" if prompted again. You can also "Decline" other prompts for extra software.
- In PDF Creator, click
Profiles
, select<Default Profile>
. - In
Save
settings, select "Automatic" save, Filename<Title>
, Target Directory<MyDocuments>\My ABC Files\PDFs
, Behavior for existing file "Overwrite files"; check "Skip send actions that fail". - Under
Actions
remove any actions listed so there are none. - In
ABC Client Settings > Printer Settings > PDF Printer
, select the PDF Creator printer.
We've had an issue with ABC not being able to read the new PDF when folder redirection was used. The user's documents were in their OneDrive folder. I had selected the path through Documents. PDF Creator did everything correctly but ABC couldn't read it. I did some more digging and found out it was nested inside OneDrive. I selected the path through OneDrive, and added the whole file path in the EmailFaxPDF settings and everything worked as it should.
Other PDF printers can be used in ABC. To work with ABC, a PDF printer needs to automatically name the PDF to the document name, save it to a specified folder without prompting the user, and not open it.
WIN2PDF can be configured to function with ABC, and is quite fast.
- Download and install WIN2PDF.
- In
ABC Client Settings > Advanced Setup Options
, uncheck "Auto Configure PDF Creator." - In
ABC Client Settings > Printer Settings > PDF Printer
, select the WIN2PDF printer. - Click the PDF link on an invoice. In the WIN2PDF save dialog, browse to
Documents\My ABC Files\PDFs
. Click the "PDF Options" button. On the "Document" tab, check "Auto-name Files." Check "Include Document Title." Uncheck the remaining options. Click "OK," and save the file. - The trial version appends an advertising page. License WIN2PDF, and you're done.
PDF Machine has a free version, but when we do a no next action it takes us into the licensed category. It continues to work, but with a banner on the output PDFs.
Install PDF Machine. (Note, if doing a reinstall for an existing license, download and license versions must match.)
- Do printer properties on the driver. Click
Preferences > Options
. - On the general selection, set filename to
pdfmachine.pdf
. Choose to save a copy of the generated PDF to\documents\My ABC Files\PDFs\
. - Set filename to
{DOC}.pdf
. - Uncheck all the selections on the bottom.
- Click next action on the left and set Next Action to "No next action."
- Click "OK."
- In
ABC Client Settings > Advanced Setup Options
, uncheck "Auto-configure PDF Creator." - In
ABC Client Settings > Printer Settings > PDF Printer
, select the PDF Machine printer.