So you want to create PDF documents easily, simply and cheaply, and you don’t want to purchase Adobe Acrobat (the definitive but expensive PDF-creation software). There are many free or cheap quality solutions for PDF creation.

CutePDF

CutePDF is essentially a printer driver that you install on your computer. No adware or spyware. No pop-ups or any kind of ads. Just download, install, and you can create your own PDFs for zero cost.

Get more info or download CutePDF.

The basic version of CutePDF is indeed free – you will be able to create PDFs from any program by simply printing to the CutePDF Writer printer description. If you want to edit PDFs, you’ll need to spend about $50 on the commercial version of CutePDF

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a free equivalent to the Microsoft Office productivity suite. And all the programs in OpenOffice allow you to create PDFs. Just go to the File menu and choose “Export as PDF". Yes, it's that easy.

Read the Digital Bits column about OpenOffice.org.
Visit the OpenOffice.org website.

About PDFs

A PDF is a document format that was created by Adobe Systems Inc. PDF stands for "Portable Document Format", and was created to allow many different computer systems to be able to share files. Put simply, almost every PC and every operating system today can read PDF files. That way, users don't have to worry about file compatibility. If you give someone a PDF, there's a very good chance they'll be able to read it. All they need is the free Acrobat Reader software or equivalent "PDF reader" program installed.