From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 16:49:16 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

The latest Adobe Acrobat reader is of course bloated, slow, and hard to
keep from calling home about this or that, and/or trying to sell you
things.

One feature I do like, though, is the booklet (half-size) printing
option it has. OK, my printer driver also has that option, but the Adobe
one is much simpler to use (and possibly more versatile), and I don't
run the risk of accidentally _leaving_ the printer set to that option
for other printing jobs.

Anyone know what is the _earliest_ version of Adobe Acrobat Reader that includes that option? (oldversion.com has a good selection.)

Over the last day or two I've been struggling - and eventually gave up - installing the version called something like "11.0.1 XI" on this W10-64 machine; not sure if that has the booklet option, but I remember it as
being stable and quick. But - despite hours of help from ChatGPT
(rebuilding .Net3.5, all sorts of other things) it just wouldn't
install. I eventually installed Foxit 5.0.1.0523, just so I _have_ a PDF reader, but that doesn't have the booklet option (I don't know if any
Foxit does, even the recent ones).

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 18:57:49 -0400, Paul wrote :

There is a download here. I unpacked the first one and
ran the Setup.exe from the folder created. It seemed to run
no problem. Using control.exe and "Programs and Features : Windows Features", there is no .NET 3.5 in my Win10 22H2 VM, just .NET 4.8 or so has tick box ticked.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/345-adobe-reader.html

Name: AdbeRdr11000_mui_Std.zip
Size: 141015434 bytes (134 MiB)
SHA256: ECB34BB1A10CF0DADD09103F0F8C378153E01620D4D5C2BA795C273633DC1880

Name: AdbeRdrUpd11023_MUI.msp
Size: 39866368 bytes (38 MiB)
SHA256: 1D226D0EF7C6346D5E0E5FE0BB0A6C2C30B5A5729E441E52C56C0260B676D1DE

This software is discontinued, and is the last to run on older OSes.
Which would be a good reason for it to run on .NET 3.5 or so I suppose.

Anyway, the "printing" on my test vm, would be done by "Microsoft Print To PDF"

When Microsoft Print To PDF prints for Notepad, no options at all are offered.

When Microsoft Print to PDF prints for Acrobat Reader, the GUI changes on the print dialog, to include "Booklet". And indeed, using the .cab from the installer
above and finding "Words.pdf" sample document, it printed in Booklet mode, where if folded A4 sheets accordion style, it would "make sense".

I'll glue a picture together later, and post it, of the bits and pieces.
But basically, even without using the .msp and bringing it up to date,
there is still a Booklet mode offered.

On occasion, I caught the software "bogging" and it took a visit
to Task Manager to kick it out of its funk. Is that normal for computers
in the year 2025 ? Apparently so... Grrr.

I've been running Adobe Acrobat 6 (the writer) since the beginning of time.
<https://i.postimg.cc/C5TdD4Vs/pdf07.jpg>

Mainly because it runs on as many PCs as install it on using the same registration number (which I bought almost billion years ago).

It works on almost all PDFs & those that it doesn't work on almost always
be downgraded with tricks to the version that Adobe Acrobat 6 works on.

Now, to see if it can print to PDF like FinePrint always did at a cost.
Acrobat6(writer):File > Print setup > Printer > Microsoft Print to PDF

Bummer. I don't see a booklet half-size printing format option.
But when I think of "booklet" I think of a far more complex printing.
Such as re-arranging odd/even pages at half size so you can fold it.
Once you fold it & staple the centerline - you now have a booklet.
Four pages to a single 8.5x11 standard letter sheet.
Folded in half and stapled - it becomes a half-sized book.

If I needed to print a "booklet" (for some values of booklet), I'd use:
<https://fineprint.com/fpsupport-topic/how-do-i-fix-double-sided-and-booklet-printing-problems/>

Does any Adobe free product print booklets? Dunno. This might help:
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/ways-print-pdfs.html>

Apparently somepeople have tried:
<https://www.reddit.com/r/YearCompass/comments/acejtc/how_do_you_print_and_staple_the_a5_booklet/>

But what the OP calls a "booklet" may not be the same thing as above.
Can the OP describe what he means by "booklet"?

It could be just "half sized" (which isn't a booklet at all, to me).
Or it could be something that is folded and read like a book would be.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On 2025/8/28 2:12:24, Marion wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 16:49:16 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

[]

I've been running Adobe Acrobat 6 (the writer) since the beginning of time.
<https://i.postimg.cc/C5TdD4Vs/pdf07.jpg>

Mainly because it runs on as many PCs as install it on using the same registration number (which I bought almost billion years ago).

But presumably isn't public domain!>

It works on almost all PDFs & those that it doesn't work on almost always
be downgraded with tricks to the version that Adobe Acrobat 6 works on.In terms of "advanced features", I've never yet encountered a PDF which

I couldn't open with whatever PDF reader I had on the computer I was
using at the time. I am vaguely aware that there are things like forms
that can be filled in, and those may need other than a _very_ old
reader, but I've never had to use such a form. (I'm not in the USA,
where I gather tax returns may involve such documents.)

Now, to see if it can print to PDF like FinePrint always did at a cost.> Acrobat6(writer):File > Print setup > Printer > Microsoft Print to PDF>
Bummer. I don't see a booklet half-size printing format option.
But when I think of "booklet" I think of a far more complex printing.
Such as re-arranging odd/even pages at half size so you can fold it.
Once you fold it & staple the centerline - you now have a booklet.

Yes, that's what I meant by "booklet". (The difficulty being getting
hold of a deep-throated stapler!)

Four pages to a single 8.5x11 standard letter sheet.

Or A4 in Europe (including UK).

Folded in half and stapled - it becomes a half-sized book.

Yes.>

If I needed to print a "booklet" (for some values of booklet), I'd use:> <https://fineprint.com/fpsupport-topic/how-do-i-fix-double-sided-and-booklet-printing-problems/>

Both my printer driver (I have a duplex printer), and later versions of
Adobe Acrobat Reader, have a booklet option (print pages in half size
and funny order so you can take the output stack, staple and fold it,
and you have a boooklet, as you describe). I prefer the Adobe one, as I
find it easier to use, and it doesn't risk leaving the printer in that
mode.>

Does any Adobe free product print booklets? Dunno. This might help:
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/ways-print-pdfs.html>

Yes, that's the printing UI that's part of the Adobe free reader. I'm
not sure when it first appeared in the reader - hence my OP.>

Apparently somepeople have tried:
<https://www.reddit.com/r/YearCompass/comments/acejtc/how_do_you_print_and_staple_the_a5_booklet/>

(A5 is just UK/EU for "half A4". The A series of sizes are very logical
like that! [They go from A0 down to at least A7.])

But what the OP calls a "booklet" may not be the same thing as above.
Can the OP describe what he means by "booklet"?

It could be just "half sized" (which isn't a booklet at all, to me).
Or it could be something that is folded and read like a book would be.

No, I meant what you do - not only half size, but with pages scrambled
so the output stack can be folded and read like a book.
I just wanted to install an earlier version of Adobe Acrobat Reader -
because the current one is bloated (and therefore) slow, flaky, and you
never know what it's 'phoning home' about, or trying to sell you. But I
was hoping to still get one with booklet printing. If I understood Paul,
the one with "XI" in its title still does, and I'd be delighted to use
that one as I've found in the past it to be stable, but that won't
install on this 10-64 machine for some reason.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 03:38:01 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

I've been running Adobe Acrobat 6 (the writer) since the beginning of time. >> <https://i.postimg.cc/C5TdD4Vs/pdf07.jpg>

Mainly because it runs on as many PCs as install it on using the same
registration number (which I bought almost billion years ago).

But presumably isn't public domain!>

I bought that Adobe Acrobat 6 (writer) to do work at home (so the company
paid for it) before I retired and I've being using it ever since. The registered name & serial number is still that of the company, but it works
on any PC I have installed it on (namely mine and that of my wife & kids).

The company also bought Acrobat 7 (writer) for me, but that requires the Internet to run so I don't bother installing it since it's the same anyway.

It works on almost all PDFs & those that it doesn't work on almost always
be downgraded with tricks to the version that Adobe Acrobat 6 works on.

In terms of "advanced features", I've never yet encountered a PDF which
I couldn't open with whatever PDF reader I had on the computer I was
using at the time.

Every once in a while I get an encrypted PDF that it difficult but almost always I can get around it using a variety of sophomoric basic tricks.

I am vaguely aware that there are things like forms
that can be filled in, and those may need other than a _very_ old
reader, but I've never had to use such a form. (I'm not in the USA,
where I gather tax returns may involve such documents.)

As far as I bother to delve into "forms", I seem to run into two types.
a. Fillable PDFs (purposefully editable blank underlined fields)
b. Non-fillable PDFs (blank underlined fields intended for hand writing)
In addition to much more fancy
c. Editable PDFs (where text & images are meant to be changed)
d. Interactive PDFs (same as above but also with buttons & links & media)

Ignoring the latter two types of editable PDFs, I generally have no problem filling out the purposefully editable fillable PDFs with almost any tool.

For the non-fillable PDFs, what most people do is print them and then write
on them and then scan them to email them back to the people who need them.

But what I do is save the non-fillable PDF form to an editable image format
and then edit in Paint.NET using the text editor which is almost perfect.

Then I save to PDF or print to PDF after signing with the Paint.NET tool.
That works so fantastically well that I don't need fancy PDF-editing tools.

Now, to see if it can print to PDF like FinePrint always did at a cost.
Acrobat6(writer):File > Print setup > Printer > Microsoft Print to PDF

Bummer. I don't see a booklet half-size printing format option.
But when I think of "booklet" I think of a far more complex printing.
Such as re-arranging odd/even pages at half size so you can fold it.
Once you fold it & staple the centerline - you now have a booklet.

Yes, that's what I meant by "booklet". (The difficulty being getting
hold of a deep-throated stapler!)

Yeah. Good. Thanks for confirming. We both mean the same thing by booklet.
It prints all fancy with pages all jumbled perfectly, both sides.

You fold it and staple it with that long-necked stapler, and Voila!
Instant pamphlet.

Works perfectly. I use FinePrint for that for years, but I just checked the comp.text.pdf chart which is shown below which shows other tools can do it.

[x] Print booklet format (pdfbook, pdfbooklet, enbooken, acrobat reader)
[x] Add or concatenate pages (pdftk, acrobat payware)
[x] Add signature (Adobe Reader Fill-and-sign sign-yourself tool)
[x] Archive sites (wkhtmltopdf, Acrobat payware,fastone scroll capture)
[x] Compress PDFs (ImageMagick, PDFgear, rlvision)
[x] Convert PDF to MSOffice (PDFgear, Calibre for MS Word only)
[x] Convert PDF to MSWord (Calibre, PDFgear)
[x] Convert PDF to epub format (Calibre)
[x] Convert PDF to PostScript (Calibre, Poppler)
[x] Converts PDFs to HTML (poppler)
[x] Convert PDF to raster (Imagemagick,GhostScript,Poppler-pdftocairo)
[x] Convert PDF to vector (Inkscape, Poppler-pdftocairo)
[x] Converts PDFs to PPM/PGM/PBM image formats (poppler)
[x] Add text to existing pdf (Irfanview or Paint.NET plugins + Ghostscript)
[x] Minor text editing (Adobe Reader commenting, PDF-XChange Editor)
[x] Generate complex PDF using markup language (LaTeX via pdfTeX or LuaTeX)
[x] Embeds files into a PDF as attachments (poppler)
[x] Extract images (PDFExchangeEditor, PDF Shaper, PDFgear, poppler, muPDF)
[x] Extract text (poppler) or mine textual & metadata (pdfminersix)
[x] Extracts embedded files (attachments) from a PDF (poppler)
[x] Fastest PDF readers (Sumatra or Foxit)
[x] Globally search & replace PDF text (Libre Office)
[x] List fonts used in a PDF (poppler)
[x] Metadata display on command line (poppler)
[x] Metadata removal (LibreOffice Writer, PDFgear offline)
[x] OCR, PDF-Xchange, freeOCR (paperfile.net), GOCR (jocr.sourceforge.net)
[x] Offline encrypt PDF with a password (pdfencrypt)
[x] Online shrink PDF <adobe.com/acrobat/online/compress-pdf.html>
[x] PDF text to audio file (Balabolka)
[x] Delete pages (pdfsam, pdftk, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
[x] Renumber pages (Acrobat Reader)
[x] Reorder pages (pdftk, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
[x] Rotate pages (pdftk, mutool, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
[x] Remove restrictions (Ghostscript,Ghostview,ps2edit,pdfwrite,pdf2djvu)
[x] Separates a PDF into individual pages (poppler)
[x] Split PDFs (PDFgear, Poppler, Ghostscript)
[x] Merge PDFs (pdfsam, pdftk, PDFgear, Poppler, Ghostscript)
[x] Tile PDFs (i.e., to print large posters) (Posterazor)
[x] Redact sensitive information (PDF-Xchange Editor, Adobe Acrobat Pro)
[x] Add watermarks or background layers (pdftk, PDFgear, PDFsam)
[x] Add bookmarks/TOC (jpdfbookmarks, LaTeX(hyperref), PDF-ExchangeEditor
[x] Flatten form fields (Ghostscript, Acrobat Pro)
[x] Embed audio/video into PDFs (Acrobat Pro, LaTeX (media9 package)
[x] Generate PDF from Markdown or HTML (Pandoc, wkhtmltopdf)
[x] Create fillable forms (LibreOffice Draw, Scribus, LaTeX (AcroTeX))
[x] Batch rename, convert, split, etc. (PDFsam, Poppler, Ghostscript)
[x] Extract annotations/comments (PDF-XChange Editor, Adobe Acrobat)
[x] Convert to OCR (Tesseract OCR, PDF-Xchange, ABBYY FineReader)
[x] Add hyperlinks/clickable buttons (LibreOffice,LaTeX,PDF-XChange Editor)
[x] Compare two PDFs side-by-side (DiffPDF, Acrobat Pro)
[x] Digitally sign with certificate-based signature (Foxit PDF Editor)
[x] Free PDF samples
<https://examplefile.com/document/pdf>
<https://onlinetestcase.com/pdf-file/>
<https://sample-files.com/documents/pdf/>
<https://graydart.com/sample/documents/pdf>
<https://freetestdata.com/document-files/pdf/>
<https://getsamplefiles.com/sample-document-files/pdf>
<https://learningcontainer.com/sample-pdf-files-for-testing/>
[?] What other tasks do you do to edit or modify a PDF file?

Four pages to a single 8.5x11 standard letter sheet.

Or A4 in Europe (including UK).

Yeah. I forget. Thanks for reminding me.
There are people across each of the Ponds who do things differently.

Folded in half and stapled - it becomes a half-sized book.

Yes.

Based on that comp.text.pdf chart above that I lifted from the ng,
it seems that there's a tool called "PDFBOOK" which might do it.

If I needed to print a "booklet" (for some values of booklet), I'd use:
<https://fineprint.com/fpsupport-topic/how-do-i-fix-double-sided-and-booklet-printing-problems/>

Both my printer driver (I have a duplex printer), and later versions of
Adobe Acrobat Reader, have a booklet option (print pages in half size
and funny order so you can take the output stack, staple and fold it,
and you have a boooklet, as you describe). I prefer the Adobe one, as I
find it easier to use, and it doesn't risk leaving the printer in that
mode.

Thanks for describing exactly what I used to do with "FinePrint" but that's
not freeware - so I'm happy that Adobe Acrobat does it since it's useful.

Does any Adobe free product print booklets? Dunno. This might help:
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/ways-print-pdfs.html>

Yes, that's the printing UI that's part of the Adobe free reader. I'm
not sure when it first appeared in the reader - hence my OP.

I used to do it a lot with FinePrint, so when you find the Adobe Acrobat version that does it (as mine doesn't seem to do it), let us all know.

Apparently somepeople have tried:
<https://www.reddit.com/r/YearCompass/comments/acejtc/how_do_you_print_and_staple_the_a5_booklet/>

(A5 is just UK/EU for "half A4". The A series of sizes are very logical
like that! [They go from A0 down to at least A7.])

Many things are done differently across the Pond. :)

But what the OP calls a "booklet" may not be the same thing as above.
Can the OP describe what he means by "booklet"?

It could be just "half sized" (which isn't a booklet at all, to me).
Or it could be something that is folded and read like a book would be.

No, I meant what you do - not only half size, but with pages scrambled
so the output stack can be folded and read like a book.
I just wanted to install an earlier version of Adobe Acrobat Reader -
because the current one is bloated (and therefore) slow, flaky, and you
never know what it's 'phoning home' about, or trying to sell you. But I
was hoping to still get one with booklet printing. If I understood Paul,
the one with "XI" in its title still does, and I'd be delighted to use
that one as I've found in the past it to be stable, but that won't
install on this 10-64 machine for some reason.

Based on the chart I found from comp.text.pdf, it seems there is a program called "pdfbook" which apparently will print the booklet format we want.

Apparently it's macOS & Linux only though, and command-line driven, and it requires LaTeX using pdfjam, etc. so it's not a Windows booklet printer.

Digging deeper, I found there's an older version of "pdfbooklet" which is
on SourceForge which runs on Windows/Linux/macOS which we should maybe try.
<https://pdfbooklet.sourceforge.io/wordpress/>

Of course, there's the Adobe Acrobat Reader mechanism too.
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/print-booklets-acrobat-reader.html>
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On 2025/8/28 23:15:49, Marion wrote:

[]

I bought that Adobe Acrobat 6 (writer) to do work at home (so the company paid for it) before I retired and I've being using it ever since. The registered name & serial number is still that of the company, but it works
on any PC I have installed it on (namely mine and that of my wife & kids).

Presumably that was before the common "print" to PDF "printers" came
along (I, and the guy who writes the genealogy software I use, use
pdf995, but I think they're all similar). [Or does it do more than just _create_ PDFs?]>

The company also bought Acrobat 7 (writer) for me, but that requires the Internet to run so I don't bother installing it since it's the same anyway.

Presumably does _something_ 6 doesn't, to justify presumably a higher
price and later support calendar, but something so obscure you never use whatever it is.[]

Every once in a while I get an encrypted PDF that it difficult but almost always I can get around it using a variety of sophomoric basic tricks.

I _think_ same here. One of the documents I have (a recent "contract
terms" or similar from my ISP), when I opened it in Acrobat 5 or 9 or
Foxit 5 (I can't remember which), I got a popup saying something like
this document contains features this version of reader can't read - but
it opened it anyway, and a quick scan through it didn't look any
different from when I viewed it with things that didn't complain.>

I am vaguely aware that there are things like forms
that can be filled in, and those may need other than a _very_ old
reader, but I've never had to use such a form. (I'm not in the USA,
where I gather tax returns may involve such documents.)

As far as I bother to delve into "forms", I seem to run into two types.

Not a matter of bothering: I gather from what I've read on newsgroups
that the US tax office uses some that you have no choice about using.

a. Fillable PDFs (purposefully editable blank underlined fields)
b. Non-fillable PDFs (blank underlined fields intended for hand writing)
In addition to much more fancy
c. Editable PDFs (where text & images are meant to be changed)
d. Interactive PDFs (same as above but also with buttons & links & media)

Ignoring the latter two types of editable PDFs, I generally have no problem filling out the purposefully editable fillable PDFs with almost any tool.

Ditto (your "a.").>

For the non-fillable PDFs, what most people do is print them and then write on them and then scan them to email them back to the people who need them.

But what I do is save the non-fillable PDF form to an editable image format and then edit in Paint.NET using the text editor which is almost perfect.

I've done that (well, I use IrfanView for almost anything involving
images). Or, where I've felt particularly irritated by "their" use of
such a format, put it into an form Word can edit (I think Word may even
be able to open PDFs, at least after a certain version of Word [I use
2003]). (Your "b." and "c."; don't think I've ever come across a "d.")

[]

Yeah. Good. Thanks for confirming. We both mean the same thing by booklet.
It prints all fancy with pages all jumbled perfectly, both sides.

You fold it and staple it with that long-necked stapler, and Voila!
Instant pamphlet.

When I was still working, I had access to a fancy printer/photocopier
(might have been a Kyocera, can't remember) that had a stapler built in,
and also included booklet in its driver options, so you could print a
booklet from anything - but unfortunately the stapler wouldn't staple a booklet. (It would do corner or side, so you could make a full-size
booklet, but not the little one we like - well, it could print it, but
not staple it).>

Works perfectly. I use FinePrint for that for years, but I just checked the comp.text.pdf chart which is shown below which shows other tools can do it.

I remember coming across something that would independently produce
booklets (not sure what from - might have been PDFs), but the free
version either had a fairly small page-number limit, or added something
to each page, or both. That might have been FinePrint - the name sounds familiar.>

[x] Print booklet format (pdfbook, pdfbooklet, enbooken, acrobat reader)
[x] Add or concatenate pages (pdftk, acrobat payware)
[x] Add signature (Adobe Reader Fill-and-sign sign-yourself tool)
[x] Archive sites (wkhtmltopdf, Acrobat payware,fastone scroll capture)
[x] Compress PDFs (ImageMagick, PDFgear, rlvision)
[x] Convert PDF to MSOffice (PDFgear, Calibre for MS Word only)
[x] Convert PDF to MSWord (Calibre, PDFgear)
[x] Convert PDF to epub format (Calibre)
[x] Convert PDF to PostScript (Calibre, Poppler)
[x] Converts PDFs to HTML (poppler)
[x] Convert PDF to raster (Imagemagick,GhostScript,Poppler-pdftocairo)
[x] Convert PDF to vector (Inkscape, Poppler-pdftocairo)
[x] Converts PDFs to PPM/PGM/PBM image formats (poppler)
[x] Add text to existing pdf (Irfanview or Paint.NET plugins + Ghostscript) [x] Minor text editing (Adobe Reader commenting, PDF-XChange Editor)
[x] Generate complex PDF using markup language (LaTeX via pdfTeX or LuaTeX) [x] Embeds files into a PDF as attachments (poppler)
[x] Extract images (PDFExchangeEditor, PDF Shaper, PDFgear, poppler, muPDF) [x] Extract text (poppler) or mine textual & metadata (pdfminersix)
[x] Extracts embedded files (attachments) from a PDF (poppler)
[x] Fastest PDF readers (Sumatra or Foxit)
[x] Globally search & replace PDF text (Libre Office)
[x] List fonts used in a PDF (poppler)
[x] Metadata display on command line (poppler)
[x] Metadata removal (LibreOffice Writer, PDFgear offline)
[x] OCR, PDF-Xchange, freeOCR (paperfile.net), GOCR (jocr.sourceforge.net) [x] Offline encrypt PDF with a password (pdfencrypt)
[x] Online shrink PDF <adobe.com/acrobat/online/compress-pdf.html>
[x] PDF text to audio file (Balabolka)
[x] Delete pages (pdfsam, pdftk, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
[x] Renumber pages (Acrobat Reader)
[x] Reorder pages (pdftk, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
[x] Rotate pages (pdftk, mutool, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
[x] Remove restrictions (Ghostscript,Ghostview,ps2edit,pdfwrite,pdf2djvu)
[x] Separates a PDF into individual pages (poppler)
[x] Split PDFs (PDFgear, Poppler, Ghostscript)
[x] Merge PDFs (pdfsam, pdftk, PDFgear, Poppler, Ghostscript)
[x] Tile PDFs (i.e., to print large posters) (Posterazor)
[x] Redact sensitive information (PDF-Xchange Editor, Adobe Acrobat Pro)
[x] Add watermarks or background layers (pdftk, PDFgear, PDFsam)
[x] Add bookmarks/TOC (jpdfbookmarks, LaTeX(hyperref), PDF-ExchangeEditor
[x] Flatten form fields (Ghostscript, Acrobat Pro)
[x] Embed audio/video into PDFs (Acrobat Pro, LaTeX (media9 package)
[x] Generate PDF from Markdown or HTML (Pandoc, wkhtmltopdf)
[x] Create fillable forms (LibreOffice Draw, Scribus, LaTeX (AcroTeX))
[x] Batch rename, convert, split, etc. (PDFsam, Poppler, Ghostscript)
[x] Extract annotations/comments (PDF-XChange Editor, Adobe Acrobat)
[x] Convert to OCR (Tesseract OCR, PDF-Xchange, ABBYY FineReader)
[x] Add hyperlinks/clickable buttons (LibreOffice,LaTeX,PDF-XChange Editor) [x] Compare two PDFs side-by-side (DiffPDF, Acrobat Pro)
[x] Digitally sign with certificate-based signature (Foxit PDF Editor)
[x] Free PDF samples
<https://examplefile.com/document/pdf>
<https://onlinetestcase.com/pdf-file/>
<https://sample-files.com/documents/pdf/>
<https://graydart.com/sample/documents/pdf>
<https://freetestdata.com/document-files/pdf/>
<https://getsamplefiles.com/sample-document-files/pdf>
<https://learningcontainer.com/sample-pdf-files-for-testing/>
[?] What other tasks do you do to edit or modify a PDF file?

Part way through that, I gave up, and have just starred (Thunderbird)
your post for future reference! What I have in my #PDF# (off my Start | Programs) is: Adobe (now two working versions, 5.0.5 and Classic 2020
[see below]); Foxit 5; PDFAide; "Free PDF to Word Doc Converter"; and
PDFsam Basic. I can't remember how well those work - they're things I've installed over time; IIRR PDFsam can do quite a lot. I think the only
things I've wanted to do to PDFs for some time is split and join then,
and that pretty rarely; anything _I_ generate gets generated, and kept,
in Word, and only "printed" to PDF if I want to share it (or,
occasionally, print it in booklet form without struggling with that
aspect of my printer driver).

[]

Thanks for describing exactly what I used to do with "FinePrint" but that's not freeware - so I'm happy that Adobe Acrobat does it since it's useful.

Does any Adobe free product print booklets? Dunno. This might help:
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/ways-print-pdfs.html>

Yes, that's the printing UI that's part of the Adobe free reader. I'm
not sure when it first appeared in the reader - hence my OP.

I used to do it a lot with FinePrint, so when you find the Adobe Acrobat version that does it (as mine doesn't seem to do it), let us all know.

(Printing booklets that is.) Well, what I've discovered over the last
few days: The current free one from Adobe does it (it's just big/bloated/unstable IMO, whih was the reason for my starting this
thread: I was going to uninstall the bloatware [which I have], and
install the earliest that had that facility). Versions 5 and 9 don't. I couldn't get versions X or XI to install on this machine, but according
to at least one person here (Paul I think it was), XI does have that
ability. And version "Classic 2020" does too.

[]

(A5 is just UK/EU for "half A4". The A series of sizes are very logical
like that! [They go from A0 down to at least A7.])

Many things are done differently across the Pond. :)

We in UK used to have our own set of paper sizes, with names like
foolscap, quarto, and so on - they may or may not have been the same as
what US uses. But we switched to the A series quite a long time ago;
they scale by root 2, meaning if you put two (say) A4 sheets side by
side, you have A3, and so on. I think the top - A1 or A0 - is either a
metre on one side, or a square metre - let me look: Hmm, "A0 (841 x 1189
mm), A1 (594 x 841 mm), A4 (210 x 297 mm), and A5 (148 x 210 mm),", so
no 1m side, but 841 by 1189 comes out at 999949, so that's a square
metre within cutting tolerances. (I've heard of smaller sizes too -
certainly A5, and I think A6 and A7 too, for things like index cards.)
Out of interest, there's also C (cover) sizes for envelopes: a C4
envelope will hold A4 pages without folding, for example. (The commonest business size envelope is - or used to be - the one that holds A4 sheets
folded into 3 in a Z, though lately seems to be more C5, i. e. holds A4
sheets folded in half.)

[]

Digging deeper, I found there's an older version of "pdfbooklet" which is
on SourceForge which runs on Windows/Linux/macOS which we should maybe try.
<https://pdfbooklet.sourceforge.io/wordpress/>

I think I'll just use Adobe.>

Of course, there's the Adobe Acrobat Reader mechanism too.
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/print-booklets-acrobat-reader.html>

See other subthread - someone suggested this "Classic 2020" version of
Acrobat, which _did_ install OK on this machine. I'm awaiting the answer
to "what exactly is it", since it actually comes from the Adobe site,
unlike other "Classic" softwares I've come across.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Well I wish you'd just tell me, rather than trying to engage my
enthusiasm, because I haven't got one.
(Marvin; first series, fit the fifth.)
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 03:51:54 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

On 2025/8/28 23:15:49, Marion wrote:

[]

I bought that Adobe Acrobat 6 (writer) to do work at home (so the company
paid for it) before I retired and I've being using it ever since. The
registered name & serial number is still that of the company, but it works >> on any PC I have installed it on (namely mine and that of my wife & kids).

Presumably that was before the common "print" to PDF "printers" came
along (I, and the guy who writes the genealogy software I use, use
pdf995, but I think they're all similar). [Or does it do more than just _create_ PDFs?]>

Your instincts seem right as in the "olden days", it was hard to "create"
or "modify" PDFs, especially when we often started, in those days, with PS.

This is well before "Adobe Acrobat" meant also the reader.
I don't even recall if the reader existed in those days - probably not.

Also, the Adobe Acrobat (writer) always came with the PS-to-PDF Distiller.

The company also bought Acrobat 7 (writer) for me, but that requires the
Internet to run so I don't bother installing it since it's the same anyway.

Presumably does _something_ 6 doesn't, to justify presumably a higher
price and later support calendar, but something so obscure you never use whatever it is.[]

Nah. Very few programs do something important after they mature.
The old Acrobat (writer) is just fine.

In fact, the new Acrobat (reader) does a lot of what the writer did, IMHO.

As far as I bother to delve into "forms", I seem to run into two types.

Not a matter of bothering: I gather from what I've read on newsgroups
that the US tax office uses some that you have no choice about using.

It's not hard to edit a PDF when you have an image editor that has access
to fonts, where I wouldn't use Irfanview like you do, as I use Paint.NET.

But what I do is save the non-fillable PDF form to an editable image format >> and then edit in Paint.NET using the text editor which is almost perfect.

I've done that (well, I use IrfanView for almost anything involving
images). Or, where I've felt particularly irritated by "their" use of
such a format, put it into an form Word can edit (I think Word may even
be able to open PDFs, at least after a certain version of Word [I use
2003]). (Your "b." and "c."; don't think I've ever come across a "d.")

If you need to convert almost any document format to Word, you can't beat
the free Calibre program, which is, IMHO, the best of the best of the best.

It can't create magic with bitmaps though, but it is magic with PDF text.

Works perfectly. I use FinePrint for that for years, but I just checked the >> comp.text.pdf chart which is shown below which shows other tools can do it.

I remember coming across something that would independently produce
booklets (not sure what from - might have been PDFs), but the free
version either had a fairly small page-number limit, or added something
to each page, or both. That might have been FinePrint - the name sounds familiar.

FinePrint was fantastic but it was $25 last I had my company buy it for me.
(AcroTeX))

[x] Print booklet format (pdfbook, pdfbooklet, enbooken, acrobat reader)

Part way through that, I gave up...

You only need that first line.
I'll write a tutorial for others to follow. But not right now.
Tutorial: How to print a PDF booklet for free on Windows
(or something like that).

I used to do it a lot with FinePrint, so when you find the Adobe Acrobat
version that does it (as mine doesn't seem to do it), let us all know.

(Printing booklets that is.) Well, what I've discovered over the last
few days: The current free one from Adobe does it (it's just big/bloated/unstable IMO, whih was the reason for my starting this
thread: I was going to uninstall the bloatware [which I have], and
install the earliest that had that facility). Versions 5 and 9 don't. I couldn't get versions X or XI to install on this machine, but according
to at least one person here (Paul I think it was), XI does have that
ability. And version "Classic 2020" does too.

Yeah. I saw that. I wasn't following closely but Paul is a genius.

Digging deeper, I found there's an older version of "pdfbooklet" which is
on SourceForge which runs on Windows/Linux/macOS which we should maybe try. >> <https://pdfbooklet.sourceforge.io/wordpress/>

I think I'll just use Adobe.

There are online converters too.
<https://enbooken.com/>
<https://bookbinder.app/>
<https://www.bookletcreator.com/>
<https://online2pdf.com/en/create-a-booklet>
etc.

Supposedly they don't save your PDF but I didn't check them out further.

Of course, there's the Adobe Acrobat Reader mechanism too.
<https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/print-booklets-acrobat-reader.html>

See other subthread - someone suggested this "Classic 2020" version of Acrobat, which _did_ install OK on this machine. I'm awaiting the answer
to "what exactly is it", since it actually comes from the Adobe site,
unlike other "Classic" softwares I've come across.

I think that's interesting that there is a "classic" version, whatever that really means (as I wasn't following the subthread diligently).

If it's just the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, I'm not sure what the value is. Does it have more functionality than the free reader does?
Or just less bloat?

I'm asking only because I'm not sure what the value is over the free Reader that you and I could download any time we want to download & install it.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 03:59:53 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

I'm awaiting with interest to see if Winston answers your and my enquiry
as to what "Classic" actually is!

Winston is smart, like Paul is, so until he answers, all I can do is look
it up as I had never heard of Classic before so I have no idea what it is.

Apparently Adobe offers two main tracks for Acrobat and Reader DC:
a.
Stable, quarterly updates with no new features after initial release.

b.
Frequent updates with new features, cloud services, and UI changes.


In other words, it's Adobe's enterprise-grade offering for consistency and control.

None of this existed around 1999 when I started having the company buy me
Adobe Acrobat 4 for Windows 95 & I kept buying (5, 6, 7) until I retired.

Hence, my perspective on the word "acrobat" is a bit dated, where
apparently "Reader DC" became the free, streamlined viewer over time.

Apparently Acrobat DC is the full-featured editor and document manager.
I just looked up what "DC" means, and apparently it is Document Cloud.

So, with that in mind, what's Classic?
Apparently it just means there are no new features after initial release.
It only gets security patches and bug fixes but no UI changes or tools.

It updates bugfixes quarterly only.
No cloud services.

I know nothing, but I guess the licensing is why Winston suggested it. Apparently the software is tied to the device, not to a user account.

Once installed and activated, it works offline, without requiring:
a. Adobe ID sign-ins
b. Internet connectivity for validation
c. Cloud syncing or user tracking

This is in contrast to Named User Licensing, where each user must sign in
with an Adobe account, and the license follows the person, not the machine.

Note that I stuck with Adobe Acrobat 6 because in 2005 Adobe Acrobat 7 or
the first time, Adobe required an Internet connection to validate the
license. Screw that. Acrobat 7 wasn't any better than Acrobat 6 so it
wasn't worth destroying my privacy.

That's why I'm still using Acrobat 6 from 2003 since it was the last major version to allow completely offline installation and use. The crappy
Acrobat 7 began the shift toward, centralized license tracking, user registration, and Internet dependency which has gotten worse over time.

Back to Classic, I haven't been following your installs, but if you can summarize why anyone would want Classic if all they want is a free booklet printer, why not just use the Acrobat Reader with the free booklet printer?

What's the advantage, to you, of Classic that you care about over regular?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On 2025/8/29 5:7:4, Marion wrote:

[]

Your instincts seem right as in the "olden days", it was hard to "create"
or "modify" PDFs, especially when we often started, in those days, with PS.

This is well before "Adobe Acrobat" meant also the reader.
I don't even recall if the reader existed in those days - probably not.

Also, the Adobe Acrobat (writer) always came with the PS-to-PDF Distiller.

Ah yes - the distiller. The pdf995 "printer" driver requires that to be
fetched separately, for what I think are (or maybe were?) licencing
reasons; at least one other of the PDF "printers" is the same.


[]

Nah. Very few programs do something important after they mature.

I would agree with that - including the OS. Although I acknowledge there
_are_ improvements that I would not now like to do without, I found the
moves from Windows 98SElite, to XP, to 7 very incremental (and XP-7-10 I
really _only_ see the blackmail reasons, i. e. things won't work on the
older ones. And the "things" for the last quite a few years have been
almost exclusively websites, and the browsers required to run them). If
it wasn't for those, I'd still happily be using XP.


[]

It's not hard to edit a PDF when you have an image editor that has access
to fonts, where I wouldn't use Irfanview like you do, as I use Paint.NET.

Assuming you mean by "edit a PDF", just turning it into an image and
then annotating with text (and other things), then our methods are
similar - just a matter of which image manipulation tool we're most used
to. (IrfanView can select the font of anything it inserts [including bold/italic/underline/size/colour choice].)

[]

If you need to convert almost any document format to Word, you can't beat
the free Calibre program, which is, IMHO, the best of the best of the best.

Ah. I have Calibre. I found it excessively huge and clumsy, but that was probably influenced by poor experience I had trying to use it (and
something else - epubor) to try to convert a Kindle to either epub or
PDF. It may be less impossible to use for other things.

[]

I'll write a tutorial for others to follow. But not right now.
Tutorial: How to print a PDF booklet for free on Windows
(or something like that).

Might well be popular! (as long as you avoid being too pedagogic!)

On the whole, I'll stick with the Adobe, as it does it no problem.

[]

to at least one person here (Paul I think it was), XI does have that
ability. And version "Classic 2020" does too.

Yeah. I saw that. I wasn't following closely but Paul is a genius.

Paul _is_ a genius (and also capable of explaining things so
non-geniuses can understand them!), but in this case it was Winston who suggested Classic. Paul just stated that Adobe XI does have the booklet capability - which would have suited me fine, but - despite much help
from many, especially ChatGPT - I couldn't get it to install on this
machine.

[]

There are online converters too.
<https://enbooken.com/>
<https://bookbinder.app/>
<https://www.bookletcreator.com/>
<https://online2pdf.com/en/create-a-booklet>
etc.

Supposedly they don't save your PDF but I didn't check them out further.

I've never been _that_ keen on online things - and that's for reasons
_other_ than security, but security is an overwhelming one. Though come
to think of it, there is one online thing I _have_ used a fair bit -
something to extract images from PDFs, which works better than any local
such facility for doing the same thing. But I'd obviously be very wary
of using it on anything confidential. (I've used it mainly in genealogy,
where many old document scans are only available as PDF wrappers round
what are basically images; using such a wrapper offends me
intrinsically, as well as I can't tweak them as I can with an image manipulator. But there, confidentiality is rarely relevant, as the
documents are often public domain anyway.)

[]

I think that's interesting that there is a "classic" version, whatever that really means (as I wasn't following the subthread diligently).

See Winston's very comprehensive answer (and maybe my response to it if
I write it).>

If it's just the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, I'm not sure what the value is. Does it have more functionality than the free reader does?
Or just less bloat?

I'm asking only because I'm not sure what the value is over the free Reader that you and I could download any time we want to download & install it.

Well, the basic latest free version of the reader, I foundo big and
bloated, therefore slow
o fragile (prone to crash)
o kept pushing things
o I was never sure what it was "'phoning home" about

I would like, therefore, to just use an older version (slimmer, quicker,
more stable, doesn't call home at the drop of a hat or try to sell me
things) of Acrobat; it would be nice if it had the booklet printing
capability though, as I find that easier to use than the ability of my
printer driver to use. I was trying to find which was the earliest
version that did include booklets. Unfortunately, that has had to be
tempered by "and will install on my system". I found:

version 5 (stated to be a popular version by oldversion): installs on my system, good and fast, no booklets.

version XI (which I have used before, on my Windows 7 system): won't
install on this system. According to Paul, _does_ do booklets.

version X: won't install here. Don't know if it has booklets.

version 9: installed here. Seems OK. But no booklets.

I was _hoping_ that "Classic 2020" was, in effect, an earlier version,
but with booklet capability, and _would_ install here. It did install
and does have booklets; I'm just not sure how far before the current
latest it is.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Who is Art, and why does life imitate him?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On 2025/8/29 5:31:27, Marion wrote:
[]

Back to Classic, I haven't been following your installs, but if you can> summarize why anyone would want Classic if all they want is a free booklet
printer, why not just use the Acrobat Reader with the free booklet printer?

It certainly wasn't _just_ the booklet printer I wanted; I really only
want a PDF viewer (and maybe printer), because PDF is the default format
for anything that needs a bit more than plain text. And given that I
have to _have_ a viewer/printer for that reason, I might as well have
one that can do booklets too (but had hoped to find one some way from
the modern default Acrobat).>

What's the advantage, to you, of Classic that you care about over regular?

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 09:24:37 -0400, ...winston wrote :

I'm awaiting with interest to see if Winston answers your and my enquiry
as to what "Classic" actually is!

Adober Reader DC Classic 2020 is the perpetual, non-subscription
desktop only version of the Acrobat Reader DC product line with security updates but without feature and platform updates.

Thanks Winston for that clarification of the confusing "classic" product.

May I ask the same question I'd ask ANYONE who suggests software on this newsgroup that is "free", which I don't yet know the answer to (mostly
because if I want "powerful" Adobe software, I already have the last known
good version of the acrobat 6 writer (with a valid license that works on
any machine).

What if I were to suggest to someone else a 'free' version of Adobe's most powerful PDF tools that are legitimately free and able to be installed onto
a Windows PC where that Windows PC doesn't need to be on the Internet to
use the software (although it's OK if it's needed at installation).

May I ask, under *that* circumstance, for someone to summarize what I could recommend to others?

Specifically:
a. What link downloads a Windows executable installer (or portable zip)?
b. What are the licensing issues for a typical "free" user of that product?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 20:16:06 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

Your instincts seem right as in the "olden days", it was hard to "create"
or "modify" PDFs, especially when we often started, in those days, with PS. >>
This is well before "Adobe Acrobat" meant also the reader.
I don't even recall if the reader existed in those days - probably not.

Also, the Adobe Acrobat (writer) always came with the PS-to-PDF Distiller.

Ah yes - the distiller. The pdf995 "printer" driver requires that to be fetched separately, for what I think are (or maybe were?) licencing
reasons; at least one other of the PDF "printers" is the same.

In the olden days, there was just PostScript. Not PDF.
Then PDF came along.

Funny story: I tried to get my company IT department to "support" it, but
they refused, saying literally they didn't want to support another editing format. So I supported it for my users in my department on my own.

a. I had clueless secretaries on the mac using MS Office.
b. I had semi-clueless managers on Windows using MS Office.
c. I had smart engineers on RedHat with dual-boot expensive Thinkpads.

I needed them to share documents in almost real time.

A. So I set up Samba on a SunOS machine (later Solaris).
B. I added Columbia AppleTalk Protocol (aka CAP).
C. Windows already had CIFs/SMB sharing.

I managed the whole thing from my SunOS/Solaris box.
I set up a PS-to-PDF distiller folder.

The instant someone placed a postscript file into that folder, it converted
it into PDF. That was only needed until I was able to get everyone to buy
the Acrobat writers (remember, this is before the Acrobat readers existed).

If they had the Acrobat writer, then they didn't need the distiller.
Nowadays, I don't think there is any use for the distiller, is there?

Note that the Mac drove people nuts due to the resource & data forks.

It's when I learned Apple products are such crap, but the funny thing about Apple products is the dumber a person is, the more they love 'em.

Go figure.

HINT: They love Adobe PhotoShop but I get it for free with Paint.NET.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On 2025-08-28 04:38, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

On 2025/8/28 2:12:24, Marion wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 16:49:16 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote :

[]

I've been running Adobe Acrobat 6 (the writer) since the beginning of time. >> <https://i.postimg.cc/C5TdD4Vs/pdf07.jpg>

Mainly because it runs on as many PCs as install it on using the same
registration number (which I bought almost billion years ago).

But presumably isn't public domain!>

It works on almost all PDFs & those that it doesn't work on almost always
be downgraded with tricks to the version that Adobe Acrobat 6 works on.

In terms of "advanced features", I've never yet encountered a PDF which
I couldn't open with whatever PDF reader I had on the computer I was
using at the time. I am vaguely aware that there are things like forms
that can be filled in, and those may need other than a _very_ old
reader, but I've never had to use such a form. (I'm not in the USA,
where I gather tax returns may involve such documents.)

You can open them, but they don't actually "work" and you might not
notice. The trouble is that some PDF include javascript code that has to
run. It does things, typically calculations on the fields.

AFAIK, only adobe handles it "correctly". Well, it is their baby.
Firefox handles it now, but mostly incorrectly.
Most PDF viewers don't do javascript at all.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.text.pdf

On 2025-08-29 04:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

On 2025/8/28 23:15:49, Marion wrote:

[]

(A5 is just UK/EU for "half A4". The A series of sizes are very logical
like that! [They go from A0 down to at least A7.])

Many things are done differently across the Pond. :)

We in UK used to have our own set of paper sizes, with names like
foolscap, quarto, and so on - they may or may not have been the same as
what US uses. But we switched to the A series quite a long time ago;
they scale by root 2, meaning if you put two (say) A4 sheets side by
side, you have A3, and so on. I think the top - A1 or A0 - is either a
metre on one side, or a square metre - let me look: Hmm, "A0 (841 x 1189
mm), A1 (594 x 841 mm), A4 (210 x 297 mm), and A5 (148 x 210 mm),", so
no 1m side, but 841 by 1189 comes out at 999949, so that's a square
metre within cutting tolerances. (I've heard of smaller sizes too -
certainly A5, and I think A6 and A7 too, for things like index cards.)
Out of interest, there's also C (cover) sizes for envelopes: a C4
envelope will hold A4 pages without folding, for example. (The commonest business size envelope is - or used to be - the one that holds A4 sheets folded into 3 in a Z, though lately seems to be more C5, i. e. holds A4 sheets folded in half.)

There is more to it. When drawing plans, the thickness of lines is also
part of the standard. When you zoom an A size to the next, the thickness
of the lines also scale correctly.

But I don't remember the details, this was on a drawing course I had at
UNI long ago.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2