Review download specifications changelog Images 100% CLEAN report malware. IMPORTANT NOTICE. BullZip PDF Printer is a tool that sets up a virtual printer in Windows, in order to create PDF. BullZip PDF Printer is a tool that sets up a virtual printer in Windows, in order to create PDF files from all types of documents. This way, it allows any application to create PDF files using just the print menu. Bullzip PDF printer is a proprietary application for converting documents into Portable Document Format (PDF) from any application running on Microsoft Windows operating systems that can print. BullZip PDF Printer (Review) by Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine, August 17, 2007.
RunOnError registry setting added for error handling by the printer port.
TempFolder registry setting added for control of temporary folder for the printer port.
2010-05-11 (7.1.0.1186)
Smarttitle macro updated to filter out the [Compatibility Mode] tag in Microsoft Office.
New registry settings 'Disable Impersonation', 'Application Data', 'Common Application Data' and 'Local Application Data' were added to improve printing from IIS and sharing the printer on the network.
New <app> macro added to represent the application folder where gui.exe is installed.
Fix of error when output format is different from PDF and encryption was enabled.
Fix of problem with the Save As dialog.
Updated translations (Norwegian, Finnish, British English, Australian English, Lithuanian).
2010-01-18 (7.1.0.1136)
New wipemethod=3pass setting is now supported to do a 3 pass wipe of temporary files created during PDF or image creation.
Settings RunOnSuccess, RunOnSuccessDir, RunOnError, RunOnErrorDir, AfterPrintProgram, AfterPrintProgramDir and StatusFile now support macro substitution.
Fix for reading Unicode postscript properties written using octal numbers on Windows 2000.
Fix for missing text on buttons on Windows 2000.
Fix for selecting the correct file extension when using the Save As dialog.
Problem where the installer reported 'Not implemented' has been fixed.
VBScript macros and events are now supported. This extends the programmatic control you have over the PDF Writer.
New setting: LicenseFile. With this setting you can specify which license to use. This feature is meant for a redistribution scenario.
New setting: MacroDir. This controls where the VBScript macros and event handlers are loaded from.
New setting: ExtractText. The printer can now extract text information from the print job. This text can be parsed and values can be extracted and used as macros such as author or title.
ConfirmOverwrite setting is now supported in unattended mode. Use ConfirmOverwrite=no if you want to overwrite the destination file without a prompt.
Translation updates (Russian).
2008-09-14 (6.0.0.679)
Aviod detection as a virus for F-Secure users.
Fix in config.exe to allow mixed case parameter values.
Translation updates (Catalan).
2008-09-05 (6.0.0.664)
Driver settings USERTEMP and USERDATA are no longer supported.
Improvements for PDF Printer redistribution and customization.
Installation and unstallation now supports multiple instances of the program installed on the same computer.
Registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Print Printers Bullzip PDF Printer AppFolder is now written to associate the installed printer with a specific program folder.
Uninstall only removes printers where the AppFolder registry value matches the application folder being uninstalled.
/NOHOMEPAGEICON command line switch for the setup program. The home page icon will not be installed in the start menu when this parameter is specified.
Translation updates (Estonian, Vietnamese)
Registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Bullzip PDF Printer Settings GhostscriptFolder is no longer added by the setup program when it installs Ghostscript.
2008-08-10 (6.0.0.659)
New compatibilitylevel setting. It will control the PDF compatibility level. Valid values are 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5. This setting can also be controlled from the GUI.
Support for the <pageno> macro in the PDF output file name. This will split the resulting PDF document into one file per page.
Updated translations.
2008-07-18 (6.0.0.648)
Superimpose on top of printout is now supported. With this you can superimpose on print jobs from Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Tab order fixed.
Setup customization through setup.ini.
Multiple printers can be installed using the /PRINTERNAME='Printer1,Printer2' setup command line switch.
2008-07-14 (6.0.0.641)
Major version changed from 5 to 6.
Freeware license was limited to 10 users.
Dependency on the Microsoft Scripting Dictionary component was removed.
Better support for Adobe PageMaker. Use 'general' PPD setting in printing dialog.
More image formats are now supported (BMP, JPEG, PCX, PDF, PNG, TIFF).
GUI now supports creation of image formats.
Resolution can be specified for background PDF documents in superimpose operation.
<desktop> macro was changed from special folder CSIDL_DESKTOP to CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY.
2008-05-13 (5.0.0.609)
Correction of 'Error 53: File not found' during cleanup in temporary files.
Fix of problem with strange characters overlaying the finished PDF document.
2008-05-06 (5.0.0.599)
Multiple /PRINTERNAME can be specified during setup to install more than one printer. (* only available in custom builds and bioPDF PDF Writer)
Uninstall will remove all printers attached to the uninstalled port.
Dialog control identifiers have been modified to support hiding and disabling.
If no global@printername.ini file is found it will fall back to search for global.ini.
Translations added (Norwegian - nynorsk).
Translations updated (Norwegian - bokmål).
2008-04-20 (5.0.0.594)
Translations added (Bosnian, Slovenian).
Translations updated (Polish, Italian).
2008-04-09 (5.0.0.590)
Ini files are now coupled to the printer name. Ex. settings@MyPDFCreator.ini will hold settings for a printer named MyPDFCreator.
Contents of an App folder placed next to the setup program is copied to the program folder during installation. (* only available in custom builds and bioPDF PDF Writer)
2008-03-27 (4.0.0.575)
Problem with ini files written as Unicode has been fixed. The problem was introduced in version 4.0.0.564.
AfterPrintProgram is now run in case of success. This was disabled by a programming error.
2008-03-26 (4.0.0.570)
New experimental settings (hidetabs, hidecontrols, disablecontrols).
Translations updated (Korean).
2008-03-21 (4.0.0.568)
Version number is written to printer comment field during installation.
Error 53 when merging with other documents has been fixed.
2007-12-17 (4.0.0.456)
Automatic download and installation of Ghostscript Lite distribution.
Progress indicator is now shown it the system tray.
Balloon tip notification when the PDF is created.
More work done on the Visual Basic Script macros.
New settings supported: showprogress, showprogressfinished, runonerror, runonerrordir, runonsuccess, and runonsuccessdir.
Fix: Earlier versions could sometimes remove custom defined paper sizes for other printers during installation.
2007-11-26 (4.0.0.432)
Watermarks now use TrueType fonts instead of Ghostscript fonts.
Requires Ghostscript 8.50 or later.
Runtime error 380 should no longer occur during startup.
2007-11-21 (4.0.0.419)
Fix for dialog sizes on remote desktop connections.
2007-11-19 (4.0.0.412)
The settings UseDefaultAuthor and UseDefaultTitle now defaults to no.
Security, Zoom, and UseThumbs settings now also work when merging documents.
2007-11-14 (4.0.0.408)
New Feature: Remember last used folder name.
New Feature: Remember last used file name.
New Feature: PDF Watermarks/stamps can now be placed both over and under the normal print. This enables the use of PDF stamping the PDF files.
New Feature: PDF Watermarks/stamps can use different colors, fonts and outline style.
New Feature: PDF Watermarks/stamps can be placed anywhere on the page.
New Feature: Open destination folder after PDF creation.
Setting watermarksize is now obsolete use watermarkfontsize instead.
Setting watermarktransparency is now obsolete use watermarkcolor instead.
By default the watermark will now behave as a stamp and be placed on top of the print.
Setting suppresserrors is default set to no.
Setting usedefaultauthor is default set to yes.
Setting usedefaulttitle is default set to yes.
New setting watermarkcolor is now supported.
New setting watermarkfontname is now supported.
New setting watermarkfontsize is now supported.
New setting watermarkoutlinewidth is now supported.
New setting watermarklayer is now supported.
New setting watermarkverticalposition is now supported.
New setting watermarkhorizontalposition is now supported.
New setting watermarkverticaladjustment is now supported.
New setting watermarkhorizontaladjustment is now supported.
New setting rememberlastfilename is now supported.
New setting rememberlastfoldername is now supported.
New setting zoom is now supported by the user interface.
User's current selection of folder and file name are now saved in user.ini.
Japanese language added.
2007-10-14 (3.0.0.352)
Supports printing in Window Vista Internet Explorer running in protected mode.
Slovak language added.
2007-10-07 (3.0.0.332)
Improved memory handling when printing large documents.
New Zoom setting to determine the initial zoom factor when a document is viewed.
New UseThumbs setting to show thumbnail pictures of pages when a document is viewed.
Polish language added.
2007-09-26 (3.0.0.323)
Discards abandoned jobs for improved stability on Citrix.
Override port log file folder with registry setting.
Support for debug mode in print monitor.
Monitor removes postscript file if the job is discarded.
2007-08-24 (3.0.0.313)
Fix: Uninstall no longer removes additional printers.
2007-08-23 (3.0.0.310)
Fix: Setup program of version 3.0.0.309 was not compressed.
2007-08-23 (3.0.0.309)
Specific background images for all pages. more...
Instances are now recognized by the options dialog. more...
UNC roots are now valid destinations.
Arabic added as new language.
2007-08-09 (3.0.0.290)
Experimental support for named instances of the printer. This allows installation of multiple printers running with different settings.
2007-07-28 (3.0.0.278)
Support for file systems without support for 8.3 representation of long file names. Fixes problems in some Vista installations.
Problems with installing msxml6.dll have been fixed.
2007-07-25 (3.0.0.275)
Improvements to Citrix installation to avoid the 'The arguments are invalid' message.
Dependency of Scripting.FileSystemObject has been removed.
Improved encoding of the PDF property values such as title and author.
Greek added as new language.
Serbian added as new language.
Swedish added as new language.
2007-07-05 (3.0.0.270)
Retries moving destination file if it is locked by Antivirus software for some time after generation.
<basedocname> macro no longer contains the directory part.
Introduction of global.ini.
New GhostscriptTimeout setting in configuration files.
New AfterPrintProgram setting in configuration files.
New AfterPrintProgramDir setting in configuration files.
New DisableOptionDialog setting in configuration files.
PDF compatibility level changed from 1.4 to 1.6.
2007-06-04 (3.0.0.222)
Printing dialog now captures focus on Windows Vista.
2007-06-01 (3.0.0.215)
Forces target settings to lower case. This is done to make the programming interface more robust to mixed case in the target settings.
2007-05-28 (3.0.0.211)
Italian added as new language.
2007-05-22 (3.0.0.210)
Spanish added as new language.
Simplified Chinese as new language.
Traditional Chinese as new language.
2007-05-18 (3.0.0.209)
Use of /NOICONS during silent install will not install icons in start menu, desktop, and quick launch.
Support for Scandinavian characters in watermarks.
Additional architectural paper sizes ARCH E1 and ARCH E1 Half.
Turkish added as new language.
2007-05-08 (3.0.0.201)
New printer driver (PPD file)
More paper types supported (Letter, Ledger, Legal, A3, A4, A5, 11x17, Note, A2, A6, LetterSmall, A0, A1, A4Small, A7, A8, A9, A10, ISO B0, ISO B1, ISO B2, ISO B3, ISO B4, ISO B5, ISO B6, JIS B0, JIS B1, JIS B2, JIS B3, JIS B4, JIS B5, JIS , 6, C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, ARCHE, ARCHD, ARCHC, ARCHB, ARCHA, FLSA, FLSE, HalfLetter, PA4, and Custom Page Sizes)
Specify PDF Settings (color model, image compression, compatibility, auto rotate pages, embedded fonts, subset fonts, and page compression)
Placing a file named debug.txt in the program folder will set the program in debug mode.
Russian and Hungarian added as new languages.
2007-04-11 (3.0.0.186)
Fix: Error message removed when installing on XP 64 bit.
Fix: Specifying folders as default file names has been improved.
2007-04-09 (3.0.0.181)
Fix: Maximize button disabled in options dialog.
Fix: Minor change in watermark routine.
2007-04-09 (3.0.0.174)
The printer has been localized to Portuguese (Brazil).
Improvement: The output setting can be used to specify a default folder.
2007-03-25 (3.0.0.164)
The printer has been localized to German and Danish.
/noghostscript parameter for setup program will skip the check for Ghostscript.
Fix: Open PDF documents after printing.
2007-02-28 (3.0.0.133)
Fix: Removed dependency for Windows Scripting Host version 5.5.
Fix: Spelling errors.
Fix: In the previous version some jobs would lock the print spooler queue. This has now been fixed.
2007-02-20 (3.0.0.129)
Feature: The config.exe utility now supports /C that will remove all settings.
Fix: Merging with a file that doesn't exist does no longer create an empty PDF file.
Fix: The previous version could only detect Ghostscript 8.54.
Fix: The config.exe utility reported an error when setting values.
2007-02-12 (3.0.0.125)
Fix in detection of 32-bit Ghostscript on x64 systems.
2007-02-12 (3.0.0.122)
Fix in detection of Ghostscript on x64 systems.
Extra error handling added.
2007-02-10 (3.0.0.25)
No compatibility with older versions!
Graphical user interface added.
Major rewrite of the printer driver.
Support for Citrix MetaFrame.
Support for Windows Terminal Server.
COM/ActiveX interface for programmatic control was added.
Improved setup program.
2006-12-11 (2.0.0.24)
Fixes in the merge functionality.
Version 2.x documentation.
2006-12-07 (2.0.0.23)
Support for Windows Vista x64 (64 bit edition).
Support for Windows 2003 x64 (64 bit edition).
New Feature: <basedocname> macro added for the Output setting.
2006-12-03 (2.0.0.22)
Support for Windows Vista.
Shows messages and SaveAs dialogs in the user's context. In theory this should improve the support on Terminal Server and Citrix. However, it has not been tested.
New Feature: The output name in the settings.ini can contain macro names such as <docname> and <date>, which will be substituted with the actual document name and current date when the PDF document is generated.
Misc. fixes.
2006-09-22 (1.0.0.20)
Fix: Reads Author, CreationDate, Creator, Keywords, ModDate, Subject, Target and Title form settings.ini.
2006-08-28 (1.0.0.19)
New Feature: Output quality control.
New Feature: 40 bit and 128 bit password encryption.
New Feature: Access permissions.
New Feature: Watermarks.
New Feature: Superimpose PDF documents.
New Feature: Set document properties.
Fixes in the printer driver.
Setup program improved to solve problems on Windows XP Home.
2006-05-13 (1.0.0.18)
The printer driver now works with all Ghostscript 8.x versions.
2006-01-25 (1.0.0.17)
Users no longer need admin privileges in order to use the printer driver.
Settings are no longer written to registry. They are now written to settings.ini in the data folder below the application folder.
Temp files are now written to the temp folder below the application folder.
CONFIG is no longer depending on the missing MFC71.DLL.
2005-12-03 (1.0.0.16)
Support for the settings: AfterPrintProgram, GhostscriptFolder, Output, SettingsProgram, ShowPDF and WorkArea.
CONFIG program to change settings.
2005-11-20 (1.0.0.10-2)
Setup now also support Windows 2000 and 2003.
2005-11-17 (1.0.0.10)
First release.
BullZip PDF Printer Standard adds a virtual printer to your Windows installation and uses it to generate PDF documents from any Windows app that supports printing. When compared to the competition, this free version of the software has more features, although some require a premium purchase in order to be fully usable.
Pros
Deep Windows integration: BullZip PDF Printer Standard installs a printer driver on your PC, which makes it available in every application that has the ability to print. This means that you can now have a single unified way of generating PDF documents, regardless of the app you happen to use.
Advanced PDF options: From the software's settings screen you can change the level of detail on the generated PDFs, add author details and watermarks, encrypt the printed files, and even append other PDF documents to them.
Free Pdf Printer
Macros in names: One unique feature of the software is the ability to customize the names of the generated PDF documents by inserting built-in macros. In our tests we were able to set the naming style to use the document's name followed by the author.
Cons
Crippled functionality: Some options, such as digital certificates and high resolution watermarks, are not available in the free version of the software. You can still use the aforementioned features, but the end PDF will show that it is created with demo software.
Bottom Line
If you find yourself needing to create PDF documents from a dozen different programs on a regular basis, you should consider getting BullZip PDF Printer Standard. Since it functions like an ordinary printer, there is very little to learn, so you can get to work straightaway.