Printing to a PDF
As of March 2013 you are now able to print directly to a pdf without having to install any 3rd party software, thus the additional information provided on this page is only going to be useful should you desire to print using a different PDF facility other than that provided with the EasyAs Software.
Please see this page for the instructions on Printing Reports, Invoices, Quotes Etc to a PDF directly from EasyAs: Print to PDF
.
.
DoPDF
With EasyAs you have the ability to print your reports and invoices etc to the printer or to a file for email attachment. The additional information below is only going to be useful to those clients whom require to use a different PDF Printer.
The example instructions Below Are For Use With DoPDF.
Note that printing to PDF is not the same as the printing to a word document, printing to a word document saves the invoice or report as a file on your hard drive with the extension .rtf which is then readable by programs such as microsoft word. To find out more about printing to a document to be saved and used by microsoft word go to this page: printing to rtf file
Printing using an alternate PDF program will require that you install a new printer into windows. Whilst you might not be actually printing to a physical printer (onto a piece of paper) windows still treats PDF Printing Programs in the same way as it would when adding a new printer to the PC.
Thus the first thing you need to do is to install a PDF Printer to enable this windows feature.
NOTE:
A PDF is not the same as a word document file, although it seems to be similar as it is a file that is opened on your pc.. When you print to a pdf file you are using your printer settings, in fact you have to install a new printer in order for this to occur.. I see many people whom are confused when they cannot save to a pdf. The key point to remember is that you have to install a pdf printer into windows in order for this to work. Even though you are not connecting a physical printer to your pc, you still have to install a pdf printer before windows can print or save a document as a pdf file (more about this below)
What is a PDF: A PDF file is simply a file much like a photo or any other file. For example a photo will usually end with the extension .jpeg or .jpg and a word document may end with .doc
A PDF file ends with the extension .pdf
To read a pdf file you need to download and install a pdf reader. Adobe has a pdf reader which is free to download and install. A pdf reader does not create a pdf but it will allow you to read pdf files.
Many online ebooks are now being sold as downloadable in pdf format, this saves the cost of distribution and printing etc.
If you need a reader click this link to go to adobe then click the link to get the “Adobe Reader”
.
The next thing you need to install is a pdf printer.
Companies such as adobe have sold pdf creators for years, however you do not need to purchase a pdf creator. Yes the pdf creator you can purchase from adobe does enable you the ability to do a lot of extra things that free pdf writers may not be able to do.
But if you just want to do general printing in pdf format you can download a program free of charge.
| Go to dopdf.com and download their software – Click Here |
.
Simply download and install dopdf on your pc – dopdf will install as an additional printer.
If you go to the section in windows where your printers are installed you will now see dopdf as an additional printer, even though you have not physically connected a new printer to your pc..
.
Using the additional printer is very easy
If you already use a program like Microsoft word or open office, you can now print using dopdf. When you print a letter from Microsoft word you can use the printing facility to print your document to a pdf. The installation of the pdf printer has nothing to do with EasyAs, it is installed into windows, so because of this it is now available to any program that prints to a printer. Remember you are not saving to pdf you are printing to pdf, which actually saves the document as a pdf file on your pc (its strange I know but this is how it works)
To make use of this facility with EasyAs you need to select the pdf printer as the default printer before printing.
If your pdf printer is not your default windows printer you can select to print to a pdf printer when you open EasyAs by clicking the printer icon located on the main screen..
At the bottom half of the printing screen you can change the printer in use for EasyAs. This will only effect the EasyAs program and only effect it for that session.
Within EasyAs you also have the ability to change the printer setting when printing invoices, quotes and purchase orders. You can select the printer setting directly from those screens without having to change any setting on the main screen.
This is done by clicking the small icon located below the printer icons which are found on those screens, this is an example of the icon you should be looking for:
When you click this icon a popup will appear, you then simply select the printer you want to use from the drop down menu. You will usually have a choice of printers, such as dopdf and your standard printer.
Remember
Changing the Printer settings and using a pdf printer is a function of windows, EasyAs is simply making use of this function.
One More Point to Remember
There is nothing special you need to do to make use of this facility apart from installing the pdf software. Once you have installed the printer and you have selected it as the default printer or at least selected it within EasyAs for that session, you use the EasyAs Software in exactly the same manner as before.
Any time you want to print a report, invoice or quote or any other type of report to a pdf file you simply click on the standard printer icon as if you are going to print your report onto a piece of paper. Because you have told windows that you want to print to a pdf printer windows will take care of the rest for you. So when you click on any of the printing icons within EasyAs it will automatically use the default printer, and if you set the pdf printer to default then it uses that.
This is the standard printer icon found within EasyAs:
More information about printing to pdf is found below…
DO NOT get this mixed up with the saving of a file to disk using the .rtf method (printing to a word document). This is a completely different approach and one has nothing to do with the other.
This Video Discusses Printing To A PDF using DoPDF
.
.
Example of the Steps involved in Printing to PDF using DoPdf
Remember that printing to a pdf is different to printing using the “Save As Document” Icon…. When using EasyAs to save an invoice to the hard drive as a .rtf when clicking the “Save As Document” Icon, it will automatically save the invoice as its invoice number
1 Invoice 121.rtf
1 Quote 35.rtf
When using dopdf to create a pdf file it will not automatically number the invoice or quote. It will attempt to save the invoice or quote as the name of the report that EasyAs is printing. Within EasyAs there are some 70 different types of reports, most are associated with invoices and quotes etc…
Most of the time if you were to print an invoice to the printer to obtain a printout on a piece of paper you would not even know that the system is printing a different type of report, it just does it for you.
But when you print using a pdf creator like dopdf you will see the software wanting to save the report or invoice as funny names, this is because it will by default give it the name of the report it is printing – which is the name the report was created as during the construction of the software. (remember that printing to a pdf is not something EasyAs has invented we are simply making use of your pc, which is why we have no control over how it prints, we would love to have it save your invoice as the invoice number but this is out of our control)
So because you are printing to a pdf your Pc might be trying to save the invoice to a pdf document under a strange name, so you might want to rename this before printing. The most logical thing for you to do would be to rename the invoice and call it by its number, such as Invoice 1 or Invoice 101 etc…
.
When I want to print to a pdf I simply check the number of the invoice or quote I am about to print prior to printing (I have to do this prior as it wont let me see the number after I click print), then I simply rename and save it as that number.
With dopdf you do not have to worry about the .pdf at the end of the name. So when you change the name you can forget about the .pdf as dopdf will automatically add that when it writes to a pdf.
Example:
When it prints and creates the pdf using dopdf it will save it to whatever location you have instructed. In the example above it was being saved to the “MyDocuments Folder”.
Usually if you have adobe reader installed adobe will also automatically open the invoice after the pdf is created. So you will instantly be able to view how the pdf looks, which allows you to see how the person at the other end may see the pdf if you send it to them via an attachment to an email.
Examples:
Example of a Standard Invoice When It Is Printed to a PDF File
Printing to your printer and printing to a PDF will produce the same look
.
.
Example of the same invoice above Saving to Disk as an .rtf format
You will notice how it loses some of its gloss when saving as a rtf file
