Printing Reports as PDF Documents.
Printing of PDF reports can be very useful if you wish to send details to your Accountant without sending your database. PDF reports can be password protected and sent by email.
Any report that can be printed can also be output as a PDF document.
On Mac OSX this support is built-in. On Windows you need to install a PDF printer and then print using this printer to create the PDF file.
PDF Printing for OSX.
Printing is available anywhere in Budgets GetReal where you see the Printer symbol. Clicking on this symbol allows access to following options under OSX:
Page Setup ….
Simply allows you to select the required page size, orientation, scaling and the default printer. The default printer can be over-ridden with the next option. You should select this option once before printing.
Print with setup ..
Allows you to print the report and access the PDF printing options of “Preview” and printing to a file (using the “Save as PDF…” option). You must select this option each time you wish to print a PDF document.
This option simply prints the report contents to the default printer using its previously set page options. You will never use this option for PDF printing.
The “Save as PDF…” option allows you to customise the file properties. You can set the Title, Author, Subject and Keywords properties in the final document. You can require (and set) passwords to open the document, copy and modify content, and restrict printing.
PDF Printing for Windows.
1. Install a free PDF Printer
There are several free PDF printers that have proven themselves in testing with Budgets GetReal. These printers are generally free for commercial (limited) and non-commercial use and do not incorporate watermarking of the document or popup advertising. All printers require a Postscript to PDF converter such as Ghostscript (also free) to be installed.
Our preference is for PDFCreator available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/.
We prefer this program to others we have tested (CutePDF Writer and Bullzip PDF Printer) since it comes in a single installer that also installs the relevant version of Ghostscript.
PDFCreator has full customisation for languages and extensive PDF customisation e.g. ability to password protect your PDF file - against opening or various forms of modification. It has extensive and good Help support.
2. Using your PDF Printer with Budgets GetReal
Printing is available anywhere in Budgets GetReal where you see the Printer symbol. Clicking on this symbol allows access to following options under Windows:
Page Setup ….
This allows you to select the printer to be used as well as the appropriate page size and color options. This option must be run before you select the Print option from Budgets GetReal. Failure to do this may result in unpredictable results. When you are finished select the “Print” button. Please note that this “Print” button does not initiate printing - you must select the Print option from within Budgets GetReal.
You can avoid calling this option if you have previously set PDFCreator as the default printer (and set its properties) using the Printers and Faxes Control Panel.
This option simply prints the report contents to the default printer using its previously set page options.
On selecting the Print option the following will occur. Note that printing sometimes takes up to 5 seconds to initiate, and possibly longer on long documents.
1. The report window in Budgets GetReal will momentarilly resize. This indicates that the report has been output to the PDF printer.
2. PDFCreator will show a window titled “PDFCreator 0.9.9″ or similar. This allows you to customise all aspects of the saved document. Refer to its Help file for details. When finished select “Save”.
3. A file selection dialog will open asking you where to save the file.
4. If you have entered any of the security options you will be asked to enter the appropriate passwords.
5. The file will save as nominated.
6. The saved file may open for inspection - if you previously nominated this option.
3. If something goes wrong - Windows only
Firstly check the PDF Printer installation using a simple text document from WordPad.
The PDFCreator Help will tell you what to do. We use “Method 1: Printing” as described under Help sections “Using PDFCreator” > “Create a PDF”.
Finally repeat the above instructions of Step 2 taking care to ensure that the PDFCreator printer is properly selected prior to attempting to print. If necessary you can reset this using the Printers and Faxes Control Panel (Start menu >> Control Panel >> Printers and Faxes) rather than relying on the “Page Setup…” option.
