Using novaPDF, both individual users and businesses are able to create PDF documents and easily share them, making the process of collaboration more efficient. With just a few clicks you can have your company’s reports, contracts, workflows, agreements, marketing plans, spreadsheets, forms, products list, price list, charts, emails or other printable documents converted in PDF format. Its purpose is to enable users to exchange electronic documents easier, independently of the application in which they were initially created. The resulted PDF files can be viewed on any computer with a PDF viewer (reader) installed.
This PDF printer driver is compatible with 32/64-bit editions of these operating systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista, Windows 7. It requires approximately 20MB of free disk space for the installation. It doesn’t require third party tools to be installed in order to generate the PDF file (like Adobe Acrobat or GhostScript).
novaPDF allows you to define different private profiles, each with its own printing to PDF settings. This feature is very useful if there are different users using the same computer (and each has different printing preferences) or if you are the only user but need different settings for printing documents.
This PDF creator can generate PDF files with embedded fonts. This means that your PDF files can be read and printed on any system without distributing your font separately, while maintaining the original intended design. Furthermore, novaPDF can embed only the characters used in that document, so that the size of the resulting PDF will be smaller.
You can personalize your documents by setting the document information (title, subject, author, keywords). This feature is useful also if you want to publish your PDF files on the Web, as search engines will index your PDF files and use the document information to display it in the results. Furthermore, novaPDF can create PDF/A compliant PDF files, thus is ideal for long-term archiving of documents.
This PDF printer driver has a lot of features that allows you to: modify the paper size (or create new custom page sizes for large format printing), modify the resolution (from 72 to 2400 dpi), change page orientation (portrait, landscape), embed fonts (support for OpenType, TrueType and Type1 fonts), merge PDF files and lots more. The user interface supports localization and novaPDF is available in several different languages.
Is there a feature that you would like to see implemented in novaPDF? If so, please contact us and share your thoughts, you have our promise that we will study it and if it proves to be an useful feature we will incorporate it in the next release.
Universal Printing
Using novaPDF you convert to PDF any type of printable document (i.e. DOC, XLS, PPT, PUB, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, PUBX, HTML, TXT,...), accessing its functionality through a printer driver interface. If novaPDF is installed as the default printer, you can simply click the "Print" button from any Windows application to have your PDF created.
Merge PDF Files
You can append or insert the content of the document being converted to an existing PDF file.
Font Embedding
novaPDF supports TrueType, OpenType and Type1 fonts and allows you to embed the fonts (or only font subsets) to ensure portability. You can also choose which fonts to be automatically embedded or never embedded, as well as forcefully embed fonts with restrictions.
Auto-save PDF Files
When creating a PDF file you can have novaPDF prompt you each time where to save the PDF file, or you can define predefined auto-save settings. This way the PDF files will be generated and saved without any additional interaction.
Compatibility
Works on both 32 and 64-bit Windows operating systems and doesn't require 3rd party programs such as GhostScript or runtime environments like .NET Framework.
PDF/A Compliance
Creates PDF files compliant with the PDF/A-1b specification for RGB colorspace thus can be used for long-term archiving of documents in PDF format. PDF/A is a PDF file format used for long-term archiving of documents in electronic format that uses PDF Reference version 1.4.
Private Profiles
Define printing profiles for future use, each with its own settings for page size, resolution, fonts, compression, security, signatures, bookmarks, watermarks, save settings, etc. This way you can switch between different printing profiles without having to modify the settings again.
Reduce PDF File Size
Images can be down-sampled, converted or compressed to reduce the size of the resulting PDF file. Text can be compressed or converted too.
If you have seen a review, award or any other type of feedback about novaPDF on a website, magazine or other media, or if you simply want to share your impression regarding this PDF creator, please contact us at info@novapdf.com and we will publish that.
It doesn’t matter if you are a magazine editor or a freelance writer, but if you have computer skills and an appropriate website or distribution channel for your articles/reviews, please contact us and we will provide you with a free license of novaPDF (we reserve the right to refuse such requests).
novaPDF – Print To PDF (i.e. convert a file to PDF) Without Breaking The Bank
novaPDF is a really neat tool. Basically, it’s a printer driver that prints to a PDF file instead of paper.
All right, so the concept isn’t new, but it’s still cool and cheap. At $19.95 for the Lite edition, novaPDF will convert your files into PDF format without making your wallet cry.
After downloading and installing the program (which takes all of one minute) you’re ready to print to a PDF. Any program that can print via the standard Windows printer interface can print to PDF (i.e. convert a file to PDF), including text, Word, Excel, image, and PDF files. […]
What more could I possibly say? In my opinion, novaPDF is a great product that works without forcing the user to configure anything. The convenience alone is worth the money.
Editor’s Review - novaPDF Pro
novaPDF Pro can be used to generate and save PDF documents by printing with any application. It installs a new printer on your Windows system, which can be used by all the applications that support printing. [...]
Pluses: novaPDF supports multiple profiles. This means that all your settings can be easily saved or loaded. Another great feature is the program’s ability to put bookmarks into the PDF document it creates.
Drawbacks/flaws: [none]
In conclusion: This application is great for generating PDF documents out of any type of printable data.
"Zelf pdf-bestanden maken kost bij Adobe, de geestelijke vader van het pdf-protocol, al gauw ruim 400 euro. Gelukkig zijn er tal van programma’s die dat goedkoper kunnen. NovaPDF van Softland is er daar één van. […]"
"[...] novaPDF provides a good balance between price and performance -- it's a very useable option between free and highly priced PDF creators so that you can provide PDF output capabilities to a large number of users at a reasonable cost."
novaPDF Creator Review
Ease of Use, Performance: 25/25
Look & Feel: 23/25
Features & Software 23/25
How much I enjoy 22/25
Total: 93/100
"[...]I highly recommend NovaPDF as a great and very simple way to create standard PDF documents that are fully compatible with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Nova PDF creator is an extremely easy to use and simple PDF creator"
Review: novaPDF
novaPDF is a product that allows you to create Adobe Acrobat files (OK, PDF files) the easy way: by just printing from any application. That is, it installs a printer driver that intercepts the output from your applications, converts it to PDF format, and redirects it to a file.
It’s far from the only product to take this approach (indeed, I’ve linked to others from time to time), but after working with it for a while, I think that Softland did a pretty good job of hitting the sweet spot: novaPDF produces reasonable-quality output, has a good (but not overwhelming) number of options, and best of all for developers, it can be controlled via COM so you can use it as part of a larger solution. […]
[…] "NovaPDF has successfully printed every kind of document that I have sent its way, from dozens of different applications and programs, including documents, spreadsheets, graphics, photos, screen-captures, and many other specialized programs. In a couple of cases, it produced results when other print-spooler programs failed to work properly. I have found only one program that did not work, and that is a very old one. It is extremely fussy anyway, so I do not fault novaPDF at all for this particular hiccup. One of the great advantages of the files created by novaPDF, unlike some other pdf converters that I have used, is that the documents are "searchable." I have a desktop search program installed on my computer and it indexes the pdf documents created by novaPDF.
The support is excellent. In the rare instances that I sent in a support request, I received a quick response, and they dealt with any questions that I had. In fact, I did not need any real technical aid, as the program did not create any particular problems. […]"
novaPDF SDK Review
Those who have a possible or definite need for a PDF Printer Driver, but limited time to test all the apparent options, may wish to note the results of my extensive evaluation of the novaPDF product – and other products with a related aim. […]
So, in summary, novaPDF meets all my PDF output needs every bit as well as Adobe in terms of quality and accuracy of output, and much cheaper, and with considerably more program control. Wpdf and Gnostice, I believe, have a different purpose and certainly a different way of addressing my needs, but did not come close (although I stress they do things to which they are more targeted very well). I have no connection with Softland, other than as a very recent and very satisfied customer, but I unreservedly recommend novaPDF and its development and support team to those with a need for a PDF driver. […]
NovaPDF Professional V 5.4 Review
"[…] If you don’t have a PDF creation application novaPDF is a good choice. You don't need to learn a complicated program. All you have to do is to click Print from an application and choose novaPDF to create PDF files. But if you need to use some of the features available for PDF files novaPDF can do that too. Add watermarks, set bookmarks, control file size with compression and set security parameters all within the print properties. You have options letting you modify paper size, print resolution, and page orientation. novaPDF’s ability to automatically detect links in a document and include them as clickable links in the PDF file is a useful feature.
So for the price you can’t beat novaPDF. Whether you just want to simply print/convert files to PDF or need more advanced features there is a version of novaPDF that should suit your needs. If you don’t have a PDF creation application you really need to consider the benefits."
novaPDF Professional 5.4
"[…] novaPDF is one of many converters on the market. Also, it is not unusual to encounter problems with this kind of application when converting text from languages that use diacritical marks in the alphabet. novaPDF doesn't seem to have any problems with non-US characters. You can select text in the converted PDF document and copy it to clipboard, as in an unprotected PDF document from Acrobat.
Also, novaPDF will save you about $400, compared with the price for Adobe's Acrobat program that is also used to create PDF files. Instead of paying $449 for Adobe's Acrobat 8 Professional, you can pay $39.95 for the Pro version of novaPDF and do nearly everything the Adobe product will do, and you can do it with a 3.90MB download rather than Adobe's massive 273MB download, and with approximately 90% less computer resources."
"Direi un programma che si presenta molto bene, veramente intuitivo, forse la versione Lite è fin troppo scarna di impostazioni, poco personalizzabile, ma la versione Standard permette, con un piccolo sovrapprezzo, di personalizzare al meglio il proprio documento PDF. Concludendo un buon programma per chi necessità di creare soventemente dei file PDF."
novaPDF Lite - Best of 2007
"novaPDF Lite, by Softland is a program I found when I had a need and it was so good I decided to review it. The program I had been using to create PDF files started acting quirky so I looked around for a replacement. This is what I found and it really did the job! To start with the program is very intuitive and extremely easy-to-use and that makes it perfect for both new and experienced users. [...]
novaPDF makes it easy to create top-notch PDF files that have all the features you could want. You can compress them, password protect them, print them, save them, and lots more. This is truly a full-featured program that lets you take advantage of the many features PDF files offer. So, if you've been looking for a product to help you create PDF files, you have to take a look at this one. Very nicely done -- I recommend it."
novaPDF Professional 2.5
"novaPDF is a virtual printer driver that generates PDF (Adobe’s Portable Document Format) files from any Windows application able to print. Rather than driving the printer, it writes a PDF file in much the same way that Acrobat Distiller or PDFWriter does, but for a substantially lower price. [...]
Overall, the program is straightforward and to the point. I tested printing from Microsoft Publisher, Word and Internet Explorer, Adobe InDesign and Reader, and QuarkXPress as well. The driver performed like a charm. [...]
novaPDF is a reliable and economical tool for producing PDF files and for that purpose it is very well suited. I can indeed recommend it."
novaPDF - Editor’s Pick
"I have given this listing [novaPDF] an Editor’s Pick something I rarely do :). Good work!"
novaPDF is a pdf creator for Windows that allows you to easily create professional quality documents in industry-standard PDF file format. Using novaPDF, everyone from novice users to professionals, can instantly create high-quality PDF files, by simply selecting the "Print" command from virtually any application. […]
This version is free, however it leaves a "created with" notice at the bottom of the pdf file. You may buy the product for $19.95 and that notice would be removed.
novaPDF is an outstanding product... economical and lightning fast. It runs circles around ultra-expensive, S-L-O-W Adobe Acrobat! Congratulations, for producing a gem of a product for the common man.
I have now successfully registered novapdf-lite and tested it. The test page printed perfectly, both to the internal pdf printer file and the external printer. A coloured picture also saved in the pdf file perfectly, and I saved and printed a page of my own text without problems.
I think this program is excellent: it is very easy and intuitive to use, and very fast. I have been looking for a program like this for a long time. I have other programs that convert to pdf but they are slow and fiddly to use. Being able to convert straight from a Word document to a pdf file is extremely useful for sending work to external publishers, most of whom still use Apple or other platforms rather than Windows. As a international author (on Amazon, Google, etc.) I recommend this program to others, especially writers and illustrators who need to preserve layouts when sending work to publishers. I shall also consider upgrading, e.g. so I can convert and manage graphics more easily and accurately. Thank you for providing such an excellent program.
This utility is incredible! We switched from another product and our graphics look better and the files sizes were reduced considerably. Not to mention that it is fast!
I use this program every day - it is my default printer - saves me a ton of paper and allows me to carry my "prints" around with me on my laptop, instead of dealing with a bunch of printouts. On those occasions where I do need an actual paper copy, then I just print the pdf file. One of the things that I like is that it creates the pdf file so fast - I use Acrobat Distiller on my company PC (no choice, that is what I have to use), and this is blazing fast compared to that!
I have just tested out your product - a big thank you for the speed in which you corrected the bug. I probably shouldn't say this but I tried Adobe first with the same result - black squares. They were far from helpful and in fact rather than offer to fix the problem they offered me a deal on extending the contract - why would I want to extend, for more money, something which didn't work? The logic defeats me. Any way I will be ordering your product after breakfast and will be passing this on to other companies that have the same problem
Thank you very much. As FYI, we decided to buy this because of the ratings, plus immediate ease of use. My assistant had never used PDF software before, downloaded this and was using it in less than one minute. Great stuff and great Customer Service as well.
Pros: Easy to install, works exactly as promised, no need to go out and pay $200 for Adobe. The customer service and quality of this company far surpassed my expectations, I highly recommend this product & company. Cons: No cons, absolutely nothing negative to say, if you need to print to PDF (i.e. convert a file to PDF) for any reason, get the freeware then upgrade to full.
Your web site is really excellent, but what surprises me most is the complete mastery of U.S.–compatible English. I would have never guessed that yours was not an American company – well, maybe, because it was almost too good – except for visiting your Contact Us page and seeing the Romanian postal address. Aside from impeccable American English, your site is well laid out, easy to navigate, clear and attractive, and best of all, renders properly on a 1024x768 browser display screen. It is a marvelous web site, and I’d rate it in the top ten percent of sites I’ve visited. Congratulations on a job well done!
Pros: Extremely easy to use and install. Program simply puts a one line statement at the bottom that says, "Created with novaPDF Printer (URL inserted here)" as part of the unlimited free use. Very awesome! Cons: Absolutely nothing!
Works in every program I’ve tried it in so far. If you need to email lists or reports that anyone can open, this does the trick, and you can beat the price.
The thing that I like a lot about your product is that for large Word documents with lots of pictures, it doesn’t run out of memory and produces a PDF file with all the graphics rather than black squares here and there. The latter is an issue with: (1) print to PS printer then run ps2pdf; (2) Apple’s Mac OSX "print to PDF" (i.e. convert a file to PDF) function (also using ps2pdf). But not an issue with novaPDF – brilliant! I’ll try to purchase your professional version (that converts links to PDF links) in the near future. Keep up the good work!
I particularly like the fact that it allows me to password-protect files and make links active. I’ve been using CutePDF for as long as I can remember, which is great, but very limited.
great program, easier to use than adobe acrobat … recommended for sure!!!
wow … good little utility for .PDF creation … thanks softland
Below you can read a detailed version history for novaPDF Lite Desktop (starting with version 6.0).
- Fix: The temporary files after an append operation for desktop editions were not cleaned up, now they will be deleted
- Fix: A default profile was created each time profiles were imported, now default profiles aren't created during import
- Fix: "Prompt Save As dialog" "When file exists" offered to save the PDF in a different folder by default, instead of the original folder
- Fix: Corrections for the Romanian translation
- Fix: When canceling the Select profile dialog, the print job would still run
- Fix: Crashes occured when creating PDF files with OpenType fonts and embedding those
- Update: Changed default high color compression to JPEG
- Update: Optimized the size of resulting PDFs after appending (PDF with images)
- Fix: Do not hang when printing Word documents with embedded files
- Fix: Install even if EnumPorts fails
- Fix: Setup translations correction
- Update: Optimized the size of resulting PDFs after appending
- Fix: Various language corrections
- New: Add Hebrew language to user interface
- Update: Optimized PDF file size for documents with Asian characters
- Fix: Corrected selection on edit fields on Paper page (when pressing TAB the selection didn't switch correctly)
- Fix: Compatible with Windows 2000 now (didn't work before)
- Fix: Corrected usage of Default profile on clients when private profiles are not allowed
- Fix: Append/insert/overlay PDF files with security now work correctly
- New: Added Document Creator option
- New: Added Page Scaling options
- New: Added Lithuanian language
- Fix: Changed default compression for high color images to zip
- Fix: Rendering corrections (including outlined text)
- Fix: Do not hang printer queue if client is not available (log off)
- Fix: Fixed page orientation from Excel, Word, TextMaker and others on x64
- Fix: Fixed create new predefined form
- Fix: Changed About tab for SDK and OEM editions
- Fix: Fixed platform string on About page
- Fix: Corrected OEM parameters (OEMSaveLocal)
- Fix: COM events separate on TS sessions (SessionID)
- Fix: Corrected font left clipping
- Fix: Fixed /HidePrinterPages
- Fix: Fixed /NoInstallifExists - allow for all editions, not only for SDK
- Fix: Unicode Innosetup - Unicode command line params
- Fix: Use local time instead of system time for creation date and time
- Fix: Corrected Danish language
- Fix: Updated Korean language
- Fix: If a printer exists with the same name and different driver, gets deleted before install
- Fix: Removed register dialog from Advanced save (SDK only)
- New: User interface translated in Malay
- New: User interface translated in Thai
- New: Add Registration-Free COM in C++ "Hello World (network)" sample (SDK)
- Fix: Conversion problem with page orientations in Word documents
- Fix: 0 byte PDF files created when checking rights, now gets deleted and recreated
- Fix: Licensing error mesage
- Fix: Save dialog didn't show on top of other windows on Windows7 x64
- Fix: Crash on Win7 x64 computers in some situations
- New: Added "single computer" restriction to OEM licenses
- Fix: Registered succesfully message box showing even if wrong key was entered (x64 computers)
- Fix: Corrected duplicated fonts problem (virtual memory)
- Fix: Solved a problem when printing images from Adobe Viewer
- Fix: Registry handle leak
- Fix: Fixed problem appending PDFs from FireFox when logged in with standard user
- Fix: Fixed truetype fonts with SO_GLYPHINDEX_TEXTOUT
- Fix: Minor bug fixes
- Fix: Fixes for printing on some BitBlt raster operations
- Fix: Unicode problem for symbol fonts (Windings)
- New: Type1 fonts are now supported
- New: Added a start page to allow quick access to create PDFs
- New: Fully compatible with Windows 7
- New: Added "Allow change folder" option when saving the PDF file
- New: Added options to forcefully embed licensed fonts
- New: Uses local time instead of system time for PDF creation date and time
- New: Added scrollbars for email body message
- New: Added Danish language for the interface
- New: Creates folders (multiple levels) when saving pdf file, if folders do not exist
- Update: Moved the Advanced save options on the Profiles edit page
- Fix: Corrected bug numeric values when no decimals allowed in regional settings - numbers
- Fix: Corrected mirrored images in printer driver
- Fix: Corrected bug to keep the resolution set in preferences
- Fix: Crash in spooler (when copying LastBitBlt info in ResetPDEV).
- Fix: When printing from Adobe Reader some characters were not converted correctly (music notes)
- Fix: Corrected crash occuring when showing error message box on PDF save
- Fix: Fixed crash occuring when printing from ttf16.ocx (DrvEnablePDEV)
- New: novaPDF can create now PDF/A-1b (RGB) compliant PDF files
- Fix: Correction for 8-bit bitmaps conversion (when printing emf files)
- Fix: removed the Register button and register text from the novaPDF SDK printer
- Fix: Corrected a problem with temporary licensing for site licenses
- Fix: corrected an error when printing files with big path or file name)
- Fix: Corrected cross-ref-table format (20 bytes)
- Fix: fixed a bug in extended save dialog
- Fix: corrected "Show Save As dialog" option on x64 systems when printing from Win32 applications
- Added "Stay on Top" option for the "Extended Save" and "Select profile" dialog windows
- Corrected behavior when printing specific images from Google Chrome (32-bit bitmaps with alpha channel)
- When printing from Crystal Reports the name of the PDF will not include "Crystal Reports - " anymore
- Optimized the PDF merging process (append/insert) for multiple print jobs
- Added font embedding options in novaPDF Lite
- Added informational page in the start menu group (describes how to create pdf, register novaPDF, and contact options)
- Added silent cancel printing (when pressing cancel from a Save As dialog printing stops immediately without other notices)
- New character allowed in PDF filename (&)
- Fixed image conversion (monochrome, grayscale, downsample) when printing from Internet Explorer
- Corrected append PDF files error on x64 systems
- Fixed crash on Vista x64 when closing Printing Preferences
- Added option to append content to an existing PDF file
- Added option to insert content in an existing PDF file
- New option to "Create temporary profile for each printing job"
- It's now possible to Show Select Profile dialog when printing
- New Extended Save dialog added
