Multiple methods of creating PDF files | Frequently-asked questions | Font management essentials | Advanced font management | Creating PDF files with the BullZip PDF Printer: DOSPrint method | Creating PDF files with the BullZip PDF Printer: shared printer method | Creating PDF files with the BullZip PDF Printer: Net Use method | Home page
PDF files can be created from WordPerfect for DOS by any of a variety of methods. None of the methods is ideal, but all can produce high-quality PDF output with a minimum of effort. You may want to try more than one method to see which one is best for the way you work and the kind of output you need.With each method, WPDOS sends a PostScript print file to disk, rather than to a PostScript printer. The print file is then automatically sent to a printer driver that converts the PostScript print file into a viewable PDF file.
The methods on this page use the BullZip PDF Printer (free for personal use; Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows 7 only), which in turn uses the freely-available Postscript clone GPL Ghostscript. Two of these methods make use of other software that is free for personal use: DOSPrint, by A.N.D. Technologies, and PrintFile, by Peter Lerup.
Note: If you plan to use Ghostscript for any additional purposes, you may download and install GPL Ghostscript; look for the most recent version that is available in a filename with a name like gs###w32.exe (where ### is a number like 864 or higher). If the latest version is not easy to find on the page, go instead to a different page and download gs###w32.exe from there (again, where ### is a number like 864 or higher). After downloading the installer, run it to install Ghostscript. You do not need to run Ghostscript after installing it, but you must install it. (If you want to run it in order to see what it looks like, keep in mind that you should type "quit" on the command-line in the Ghostscript window to close it.)
The methods on this page are for use with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows 7 only! Your account must be (and probably already is) an administrative account when using these methods.
See a separate page for a method that may be used with Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, as well as with more recent versions. A number of obsolete or expensive methods are also available on the same separate page. These include methods for use with old versions of Adobe Acrobat, with DOS-only systems, and other superceded methods.
Note: For soft fonts and drivers required for creating searchable Hebrew PDF files, see another page on this site.
Q. You say in various places on this site that I need to use
PostScript Type 1 soft fonts to get good results. Do I have to buy or download
Type 1 soft fonts? If so, where do I get them? And why do I need to spend money
on this? Why didn't you warn me that I would need to buy fonts?
A. No, no, NO! You do not need to buy or download
Type 1 soft fonts to use these methods! Again, you do not need to buy or
install any fonts! The software supplied with each and
every method described on this page comes already equipped with 35 soft fonts that are automatically available
for use in PDF files. If you
want to use additional soft fonts beyond the built-in 35, then, and only
then, you will need to buy or
download them, but you do not need to do so. See another page on this site for
further information on additional Type 1 soft fonts.
Q. I followed only some of your instructions, and I also
combined some steps from one part of your instructions with some steps from
other parts. The PDF output is not as good as I think it should be. Can you help
me fix it?
A. Yes. Start over, and follow my instructions exactly.
Q. I'm really outraged! In fact, I'm furious! You must be totally incompetent! I followed your instructions exactly,
and some of the fonts that I can use when I print to my HP LaserJet (for
example, Albertus and Marigold) are replaced with different fonts in the PDF
files. Please fix this immediately. I want my money back!
A. When you create PDF output from WPDOS, you are using a "printer"
(a non-physical printer, but still a printer) that is different from your HP LaserJet, and
different printers include different fonts. If you want Marigold or Albertus to
appear in your PDF output, you must first install those fonts (in Type 1 font
format) as printer soft fonts in WordPerfect.
Instructions may be found on another page on this
site. (I can't return your money because you didn't send me any, but you are
welcome to make a contribution if you want to.)
Q. I tried one of your methods and created PDF files from WPDOS
6.x, and I'm puzzled. I followed your instructions exactly, but my PDF files
look weird. I can't select or search text in the PDF, and when I zoom in on the
PDF page, the fonts look blocky and ugly. What happened?
A. Read the section on font
management essentials immediately below.
The most usable PDF files are those in which the text can be searched using the Find menu in your PDF software, and can be selected and copied to other applications using the text selection tool. These tasks can only be performed if the text in the PDF file consists of text data rather than a bitmap "picture" of the text. Text data appears in a PDF file as sharp-edged and easy-to-read; bitmap "pictures" of text appear as smudgy and often unreadable approximations of text.
WPDOS 6.x users must read this essential warning: In order to create searchable, selectable PDF files from WordPerfect, you must use only the "internal fonts" in the PostScript driver (Times, Helvetica, Courier, and others) or downloadable Type 1 printer soft fonts. If you use WPDOS 6.x, you must not use any font that has been installed as a "graphic font," even if it is a Type 1 font. When you select a font in WPDOS 6.x, look at the topmost line in the Font dialog; if it says "Type Graphic font" you should not use that font when creating a PDF file! The top line of the Font menu must say either "Type Built-in" or "Type Soft Font +".
Read this equally essential warning: WPDOS 6.x can cause much confusion by allowing you to install Type 1 soft fonts either as "graphics fonts" or as "printer fonts"; if you install a Type 1 soft font as a graphics font, any text that uses that font will appear in a PDF file as a bitmap "picture" of the text, and cannot be searched or selected. You must install Type 1 soft fonts into WPDOS as "soft fonts" in order to create searchable, selectable text in a PDF file. (The option to install a Type 1 font as a "soft font" only appears when the current printer driver is a PostScript driver.) Do not use Type 1 fonts installed as graphic fonts for any document that you want to use as a PDF file! Do not use TrueType or Speedo fonts for any document that you want to use for a PDF file!
Now read this further essential warning: Except for the "built-in" fonts supplied with whichever method you choose (typically 35 fonts), the only additional fonts that you should use are Type 1 printer soft fonts that you must either buy or convert from your existing TrueType soft fonts. Most add-on font packs for WordPerfect used Bitstream's Speedo font format; you cannot use those in PDF files. (The only add-on font packs for WordPerfect that included Type 1 printer soft fonts were PrimeType for WordPerfect and infiniType Plus.) To install Type 1 printer soft fonts into WordPerfect for DOS 5.1 or 6.x, see this site's page on installing Type 1 soft fonts for PostScript printers.
When you "print" from WordPerfect to PDF-writing software, WordPerfect automatically includes in the output file any soft fonts that may be required by the software. WordPerfect does this in exactly the same way that it downloads soft fonts to a standard PostScript printer. You can save time when printing (without sacrificing quality) by installing your soft fonts in the PDF-writing software itself, so that WordPerfect does not need to download the fonts every time it prints a file that uses them. Each PDF-writing package uses a different method of installing soft fonts in itself; see the notes on font management at the end of each section about the different PDF-writing packages below.
After installing your fonts in the PDF-writing package, you will need to tell WPDOS not to download them; details of the procedure are provided along with the font-management instructions for each specific package.
Note: This method is one of the few methods that works with Windows Vista, and also works with any other recent version of Windows.
Very important note: Before you begin this method, to this site's list of Windows printing troubleshooting methods, and adjust the spool settings for your Windows printer as described in step (1b) on that list. If you neglect to perform that step, you may need to exit WPDOS before your PDF documents will be created.
(1) Download and install the BullZip PDF Printer (click this link to download the installer; if the downloaded file is a ZIP archive, you will need to extract the installer from it and then run the installer program). If the installer presents an option to "Download and Install Ghostscript Lite," you must accept that option! (This option will only be displayed if no recent version of Ghostscript is already present on your system.)
Visit the BullZip PDF Printer web site for further information on this elegantly-designed program, and make a donation via this link to encourage future development. If you wish, you may go to the Windows Start menu, then to the Programs list, Bullzip, PDF Printer, and run Options to set options for the BullZip PDF Printer, but may leave all the default settings unchanged.
(2) Test the BullZip PDF Printer by creating a PDF file from a Windows application. For example, use your browser's print menu to "print" to the BullZip PDF Printer, and make sure that a PDF file is created correctly. If no PDF file is created, then carefully repeat the preceding steps until you are certain that everything works.
(3) Download the DOSPrint utility (free for personal use) from A.N.D. Technologies. Do not confuse this program with programs with similar names on other web sites! Only download the one from A.N.D. Technologies! Create a convenient folder in which to store the programs in the downloaded ZIP file; extract the programs from the ZIP file and place them in this folder. The program you will use will be the one named DOSPrintUI.exe (not DOSPrint.exe). Create a shortcut to this program (Help! What's a shortcut?) and add the shortcut to the Windows startup group so that it will start automatically with Windows.
Restart your computer in order to make certain that DOSPrintUI.exe actually starts with Windows. After it starts, you will see a small red-and-green diamond-shaped icon in the taskbar tray, typically at the lower right of your screen. Right-click on this icon and choose Configure. A menu listing nine LPT ports will appear. Click on LPT9; select Bullzip PDF Printer from the menu that appears. Click OK.
(4) Open WPDOS, use Shift-F1, Location of Files, and very carefully write down the names of the directories for Keyboard/Macro Files (or Macros/Keyboards/Button Bars) and for Printer Files. If no directory is listed for either of those entries, then write down the name of your WPDOS directory itself (typically C:\WP51 or C:\COREL\WP61 or something similar). This step is absolutely essential; make sure you write down the names correctly! The macro will not work if you don't use the right directories. Don't simply copy one of the directory names that I mentioned a few lines above: you must know the correct directory on your system!
(5) If you use WPDOS 5.1, then download the PDFBZDP5.ZIP archive from this site; if you use WPDOS 6.x, download the PDFBZDP6.ZIP archive from this site.
(6) Copy the PDFBZDP.WPM macro from the archive to your WPDOS macro directory, the name of which you wrote down in step (4). Make absolutely certain that you copied the macro file to the correct directory! You may rename the macro to have any name you like, but you must copy it into your macro directory.
(7) If you use WPDOS 5.1, then copy the WP51BULZ.ALL file to your WPDOS Printer Files directory, the name of which you wrote down in step (4). If you use WPDOS 6.x, then copy the WP60BZIP.ALL file to your WPDOS Printer Files directory, the name of which you wrote down in step (4).
(8) Run WPDOS .1 and open an existing document. Press Alt-F10 and enter PDFBZDPV to run the macro. The first time the macro runs, it will install the correct printer driver if it needs to be installed. After a few seconds, the BullZip PDF printer should offer to open the PDF file it has created from your document. (Note that the dialog box that offers to open the PDF file may be hidden behind your WPDOS window.)
(9) Optional: Open the macro in the WordPerfect
macro editor (choose Ctrl-F10, enter PDFBZDP or whatever name you have assigned to
the macro, and choose Edit). Study the user variables that can be changed in the
macro, and make any changes you like.
Very important note: Before you begin this method, to this site's list of Windows printing troubleshooting methods, and adjust the spool settings for your Windows printer as described in step (1b) on that list. If you neglect to perform that step, you may need to exit WPDOS before your PDF documents will be created.
Acknowledgments: These macros are based on a suggestion made by Malcolm Wheatley, and depend very heavily on code written by Robert Holmgren and Niek Campagne.
(1) Download and install the BullZip PDF Printer (click this link to download the installer; if the downloaded file is a ZIP archive, you will need to extract the installer from it and then run the installer program). If the installer presents an option to "Download and Install Ghostscript Lite," you must accept that option! (This option will only be displayed if no version of Ghostscript is already present on your system.)
Visit the BullZip PDF Printer web site for further information on this elegantly-designed program, and make a donation via this link to encourage future development. If you wish, you may go to the Windows Start menu, then to the Programs list, Bullzip, PDF Printer, and run Options to set options for the BullZip PDF Printer, but may leave all the default settings unchanged.
(2) Test the BullZip PDF Printer by creating a PDF file from a Windows application. For example, use your browser's print menu to "print" to the BullZip PDF Printer, and make sure that a PDF file is created correctly. If no PDF file is created, then carefully repeat the preceding steps until you are certain that everything works.
(3) Use Start/Control Panel/Printers and Faxes (or Start/Settings/Printers and Faxes, or Start/Settings/Printers) and right-click on the BullZip PDF Printer. Select Sharing from the pop-up menu. Select "Share this printer," and accept the sharename suggested in the dialog box (probably "BullZipP", but the exact name does not matter). Click OK and exit the Sharing tab and the list of printers (if it is still visible).
(4) Open WPDOS, use Shift-F1, Location of Files, and very carefully write down the names of the directories for Keyboard/Macro Files (or Macros/Keyboards/Button Bars) and for Printer Files. If no directory is listed for either of those entries, then write down the name of your WPDOS directory itself (typically C:\WP51 or C:\COREL\WP61 or something similar). This step is absolutely essential; make sure you write down the names correctly! The macro will not work if you don't use the right directories.
(5) If you use WPDOS 5.1, then download the PDFBZ5.ZIP archive from this site; if you use WPDOS 6.x, download the PDFBZ6.ZIP archive from this site.
(6) Copy the PDFBZ.WPM macro from the archive to your WPDOS macro directory, the name of which you wrote down in step (4). Make absolutely certain that you copied the macro file to the correct directory! You may rename the macro to have any name you like, but you must copy it into your macro directory.
(7) If you use WPDOS 5.1, then copy the WP51BULZ.ALL file to your WPDOS Printer Files directory, the name of which you wrote down in step (4). If you use WPDOS 6.x, then copy the WP60BZIP.ALL file to your WPDOS Printer Files directory, the name of which you wrote down in step (4).
(8) Run WPDOS .1 and open an existing document. Press Alt-F10 and enter PDFBZ to run the macro. After a few seconds, the BullZip PDF printer should offer to open the PDF file it has created from your document.
(9) Optional: Open the macro in the WordPerfect macro editor (choose Ctrl-F10, enter PDFBZ or whatever name you have assigned to the macro, and choose Edit). Study the user variables that can be changed in the macro, and make any changes you like.
The first time the macro runs, it will install the correct printer driver and create a batch file that it uses for printing; this batch file will be created in the same directory as the document that you are "printing" to PDF format (and the macro will create another batch file when you "print" a document in a different directory). You may delete the batch file at any time, but the macro runs more quickly if it does not need to re-create it each time. Also, when the macro creates the batch file, another window in WPDOS must be empty; but this is not required after the batch file has been created.
Very important note: Before you begin this method, to this site's list of Windows printing troubleshooting methods, and adjust the spool settings for your Windows printer as described in step (1b) on that list. If you neglect to perform that step, you may need to exit WPDOS before your PDF documents will be created.
Note: These instructions and the associated files were revised on 17 November 2007 to match recent versions of BullZIP PDF Printer.
(1) Download and install the BullZip PDF Printer (click this link to download the installer; if the downloaded file is a ZIP archive, you will need to extract the installer from it and then run the installer program). If the installer presents an option to "Download and Install Ghostscript Lite," you must accept that option! (This option will only be displayed if no version of Ghostscript is already present on your system.)
Visit the BullZip PDF Printer web site for further information on this elegantly-designed program, and make a donation via this link to encourage future development. If you wish, you may go to the Windows Start menu, then to the Programs list, Bullzip, PDF Printer, and run Options to set options for the BullZip PDF Printer, but may leave all the default settings unchanged.
(2) Test the BullZip PDF Printer by creating a PDF file from a Windows application. For example, use your browser's print menu to "print" to the BullZip PDF Printer, and make sure that a PDF file is created correctly. If no PDF file is created, then carefully repeat the preceding steps until you are certain that everything works.
(3) Study the method described elsewhere on this site (the Windows 2000/XP Net Use method) for printing from WPDOS to a USB printer; following the procedures described there, turn on Sharing for your BullZip PDF Printer, and assign the sharename "BullZipP" (without quotation marks!); this will probably be the sharename that Windows suggests. Then continue to use the procedures described in "Method A" to enter a command that takes the general form:
net use lpt3 \\yourcomputername\BullZipP /persistent:yes
and then continue to follow the procedures described in the same section of the file to create a batch file that will run this command whenever your computer starts up. You must create the batch file and add it (or a link to it) to your Startup group in the Start Menu, or this method will not work after you reboot. If Windows gives you an error message when you enter the command, refer back to the description of "Method A".
(4) Run WordPerfect for DOS, press Shift-F7/Select/Add Printer (in 5.1, Additional Printers), and select a PostScript printer. You may use one of the special Ghostscript drivers available from this site (see the notes on drivers below), or you may use almost any standard PostScript driver that shipped with WPDOS (a safe choice is the Apple LaserWriter IINTX); for best results, do not use an HP or Lexmark PostScript driver. If you do not see any of the original WordPerfect PostScript drivers on the list of additional printers in your copy of WPDOS, you can install the drivers from the original WordPerfect installation disks, or download drivers from Corel's page for WPDOS 5.1 printer drivers or its page for WPDOS 6.x printer drivers. While configuring the printer driver, the following three steps are absolutely essential:
(5a) If you use WPDOS 5.1, download this Pdfwrt5.zip file; extract the PDFWRITE.WPM macro (written by Niek Campagne; revised November 2007) and add it to your WordPerfect 5.1 macro directory. Use the PDFWRITE macro to create a PDF file; the macro will ask whether you want to view the resulting PDF file (you can edit the macro file so that it defaults instead to viewing without asking); a PDF file can only be created from a named WP document. The resulting PDF file will have the same name as the WP document, but with a .PDF extension. (Note that the macro assumes that Windows and BullZip are in their default locations; if they are not, you will need to edit the macro to match their actual locations.)
(5b) If you use WPDOS 6.x, download this Pdfwrt6.zip file (revised November 2007); extract the PDFWRITE.WPM macro and add it to your WordPerfect 6.x macro directory. Use the PDFWRITE macro to create a PDF file from the current document. If the document already has a name, the resulting PDF file will have the same name as the WP document, but with a .PDF extension; if the document has no name, the resulting PDF file will be named Unnamed.pdf and will be created in the Documents directory specified in the Shift-F1 setup menu; if no directory is specified there, the Unnamed.pdf file will be saved in your WP directory (actually the directory that contains your .SET file, which is typically the WP directory).
Important note on the WPDOS 6.x macro: If you want BullZip PDF Printer to prompt you for a name and location for the output PDF file, then open the PDFWRITE.WPM macro for editing (Ctrl-F10, enter PDFWRITE, and choose Edit), find the line near the top that reads NamePrompt=0 and change 0 to 1.