Pdf files

I need FREE software to manipulate a pdf file. Basically, I need to halve the size of a small diagram. Only a few times use wont warrant the purchase of software. Other option is to reduce size at a copy centre, but would like to do this myself.

 

Its not a picture. I need to reduce the size of the whole page, text too, by 56%. Its a scale drawing that I have to reduce to a smaller scale. Will paint handle a pdf file? I have openoffice, but it wont open a pdf.

 

What PDF reader are you using? I find that I can shrink a PDF document for printing within the print setup screens via Adobe Reader. To do this, I open a document in Adobe Reader (I have version 8.2.1) and select File, Print. In the Print screen, I click on the Properties button. On the next screen, I select the Advanced tab and I see an option for scaling.

I suspect the options may vary, depending on your printer software. I have a Brother MFC-790-CW All-in-One. The screen where I see the advanced options clearly appear to be part of the Brother software I have installed.

 

Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.3, Lexmark 5070. Already looked into that. In the print window I have a "page scaling" option. This only allows "fit to printable area, shrink to area, multiple per page and booklet" options. This is why I need something that will re-scale before printing.

 

Yep, I have that too. Here's a screen print of the scaling option I mentioned:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/farmpond/forums/print_scaling.jpg

See, Brother is smarter than Lexmark. :-D

 

Yeah, Lexmark sucks. Definitely no numerical or % scale option here. Cartridges cant be refilled, and if you buy re-fillable cartridges outside Lexmark, you are stuck with annoying error/ink level messages forever. NEVER AGAIN.

 

Just thought of a different approach that might work for you, although it involves an intermediate step. Download PrimoPDF and install it. It will appear as a "printer" in your Printers and Faxes panel in Control Panel and it can be selected as a "printer" when printing a document. By doing this, you actually print the document to a PDF file. In other words, PrimoPDF is a PDF converter. It can be used to convert many types of files to PDF.

In your case, you would be printing an existing PDF document to a new PDF document. PrimoPDF has a scaling option. This would allow you to create a scaled-down version of your PDF and then open it in your PDF reader and print to your printer.

 

Thanks for info. From info on modelrailroad forum, found free IRFANVIEW viewer can accept pdf files after loading GHOSTSCRIPT, whatever that does. Sure enough pdf opens now, and can be edited, resized etc.