This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ). This should help you to find answers to common problems and avoid that we have to answer the same questions too often.
What to do if you do not find a solution to your problem here?
First: Check, if there is a new version of PDFCreator in the download area. If you already have the latest version or the new version does not solve the problem, then feel free to go to the forums to ask for help.
This is a problem with old InstallShield installations which should have been completed some time ago. In most cases you can safely delete the file with the given filename from your windows directory. If you are not sure if the file may be important, then move it to a backup folder.
The best solution is to let Office Installer install what it wants to install, which should make the problem go away permanently.
If you can't do that (for example, you don't have the original Office CD-ROM nearby), Microsoft recommends that you use the registry editor (REGEDIT) to remove the following two keys from your registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
\CLSID
\{438DA5E0-F171-11D0-984E-0000F80270F8}
\InprocServer32
\InprocServer32
TriEditDocument Class
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
\CLSID
\{010E6CBE-FE2B-11D0-B079-006008058A0E}
\InprocServer32
\InprocServer32
TriEditParse Class
from: http://www.fogcreek.com/CityDesk/kb/troubleshooting/MicrosoftOfficeInstallerR.html
see also: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q304107
Translating PDFCreator is quite easy. Each language of PDFCreator is stored in an INI file, which contains a name for each string and the translated value in the form
name=value
To make translating even easier, there is a tool called TransTool installed with PDFCreator, which allows you to see all english strings and to translate them into your language.
You also have an overview which strings are missing, which is quite useful when you are updating your translation for the latest version.
The string 'Author' is used to give you the credit for the translation, so you should place your name there.
To make a translation publically available for everyone, just send us a quick mail that you have a translation, then we will give you access to the upload system.
The language files need to be updated once in a while, when there are new features in PDFCreator. We will send notices on that as soon as possible prior to a release to enable as much translations as possible to be integrated in the setup.
In some cases there might be a little more to do. If the Setup has no translation file for your language, then you could also translate the setup if you want to. Check if your language is available.
Please check if a printer driver is installed. If not, try to uninstall PDFCreator. Reboot and install it again. Reboot again and check if a printer is installed. If not, check the SetupLog.txt in the PDFCreator directory. If an error has occured, then let us know in the forums.
Yes, PDFCreator is really free and may be used without paying money to the authors or anyone else and your rights on the documents you create with PDFCreator are not changed in any way. That does not mean, that PDFCreator has no license. Just these licenses grant you the right to use PDFCreator and to give it to anyone you like without charge.
It is right that under this *very* general description at wikipedia this may be considered spyware, as very much else software could be:
"In simpler terms, spyware is a type of program that watches after what users do with their computer and then send this information to a hacker over the internet. Spyware can collect many different types of information about a user. More benign programs can attempt to track what types of websites a user visits and send this information to an advertisement agency."
Just an example: When you use the "Check for updates" Feature of PDFCreator, then it will send a simple HTTP Request to a certain file at pdfforge.org. During the normal webser logging process, this request will appear in the log files together with your IP address, which has to be considered to be indirectly personal data, as you have the option to track it down to personal data.
Is this spyware then?
I think the main difference is if this is done unasked and undisclosed amount.
The company that created the toolbar is very strikt with that and they declare everything the toolbar is doing in the license agreement and some things that behave differently in the browser via balloon tooltips. (Like after the installation, where it tells the user that it is there)
Furthermore, the company works together with major Anti Ad- and Spyware companies to ensure, that it can be consider transparent und unharmful for the user. These unclude: Microsoft Windows , Anti-Spyware Webroot SpySweeper, Computer Associates Pest Patrol, PC Tools Spyware Doctor, Aluria Spyware Scanner and Spyware Eliminator.
If anyone should still have concerns that it may transfer data that you do not like, then you do not have to install it, it is completely optional, and can be removed at any time after installation.
In all cases so far, these have been false alerts. We always check the files packaging them, but to make sure it is harmless you can check the mentioned file here:
http://www.virustotal.com/
Mostly, the file uninst000.exe is detected. The file is part of our installer system (called Inno Setup) which is used by a lot of programs. Some virus signature producers are a bit inattentive whith these things and add them to the database when they are contained in a trojan horse, not regarding, that they could be contained in proper software as well.
These false alerts normally disappear within few days. If you feel better anyway, you can keep the file in the Quarataine for that time.
If you are not able to install PDFCreator, because the setup gives an error that PDFCreator is already installed, then use the Parameter /ForceInstall to force the installtion.
The Setup program accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the Setup program.
/SP-
Disables the This will install... Do you wish to continue? prompt at the beginning of Setup. Of course, this will have no effect if the DisableStartupPrompt [Setup] section directive was set to yes.
/SILENT, /VERYSILENT
Instructs Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent the wizard and the background window are not displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is very silent this installation progress window is not displayed. Everything else is normal so for example error messages during installation are displayed and the startup prompt is (if you haven't disabled it with DisableStartupPrompt or the '/SP-' command line option explained above)
If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used (see below) and Setup is silent, it will display a Reboot now? message box. If it's very silent it will reboot without asking.
/NOCANCEL
Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation process, by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the close button. Useful along with /SILENT.
/NORESTART
When combined with /SILENT or /VERYSILENT, instructs Setup not to reboot even if it's necessary.
/LOADINF="filename"
Instructs Setup to load the settings from the specified file after having checked the command line. This file can be prepared using the '/SAVEINF=' command as explained below.
Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/SAVEINF="filename"
Instructs Setup to save installation settings to the specified file.
Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/LANG=language
Specifies the language to use. language specifies the internal name of the language as specified in a [Languages] section entry.
When a valid /LANG parameter is used, the Select Language dialog will be suppressed.
/DIR="x:\dirname"
Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Directory wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified. If the [Setup] section directive DisableDirPage was set to yes, this command line parameter is ignored.
/GROUP="folder name"
Overrides the default folder name displayed on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. If the [Setup] section directive DisableProgramGroupPage was set to yes, this command line parameter is ignored.
/NOICONS
Instructs Setup to initially check the Don't create any icons check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page.
/COMP separated list of component names"
Overrides the default components settings. Using this command line parameter causes Setup to automatically select a custom type.
The error message you get is because of a Group Policy that by default disallows installation of printers using kernel-mode drivers. Kernel-mode drivers have access to system-wide memory, and poorly written drivers can cause Blue Screens. To allow installation of these kind of drivers, follow these steps:
Sometimes it happens, that the PDFCreator Setup will not install PDFCreator, as it detects a previous installation. This can be due to a aborted uninstalltion or a defect setup (shame on us in that case).
Sometimes it also happens, that other people have a look at our setup source code and copy interesting parts from it, which surely is ok and what open source is all about. But they do not change a setting, by which PDFCreator identifies itself. This can come to comflict then.
To solve these problems, there is a setup parameter /ForceInstall which will ignore this setting, which should solve all these troubles.
You can either start the setup through the command line (Start->Execute->" /ForceInstall") or create a shortcut to the installer an add the Parameter in the properties.
The main difference is the License of Ghostscript, which does the actual conversion of the printer data into PDF. The AFPL (Aladdin Free Public License) release normally is the most recent version and a little better than the GPL /GNU General Public License). So the AFPL is the best choice and does not restrict normal users any more than the GPL release. But there are some special cases where the GPL may be required and for this there is this second release.
This is a known bug in Internet Explorer 6, which is described here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330628/en-us
Please install the cumulative update security update for IE:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B896727&x=21&y=15
The color model CMYK sometimes lets black text appear slightly grey though they have a black level of 100%. To solve this set the color model to RGB in the settings for PDF files.