How to Turn Documents Into PDFs for Free (Windows)

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Connect your computer to the Internet if needed

   Choose "Windows" under "Select your Operating System" and choose the name of a site in or near your country. ,, If you are using Internet Explorer, you may need to click on "close this dialog box" to turn the little black X off. , You can leave it saving while you go and do other things. ,,, You can get to the end of the license quickly by typing a Ctrl-End (turn the "I accept" tick on to make the Next button work there) when the installer offers to have Open Office manage all of your documents, choose No if you also have MS Office, else choose Yes. ,,
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   Step 2: open your web browser

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   Step 3: and go to openoffice.org into the "Address" or "Location" bar at the top.

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   Step 4: Find a link in the middle of the page

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   Step 5: under the word "download"

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   Step 6: which says "the stable version" and click on it.

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   Step 7: Click on the drop-down "Select your language" and choose one of the many languages

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   Step 8: probably English.

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   Step 9: Click on the button "Continue to Download".

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    Step 10: Choose "Save the file" and click on "Save" or "OK".

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    Step 11: Saving this file from the Internet should take about 20 minutes on a "512k" ADSL or Cable link

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    Step 12: or about 3 or 4 hours on dial up.

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    Step 13: When the file is all saved

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    Step 14: click on the "Open" button.

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    Step 15: Double-click on the folder named "OOo-numbers-Win32Intel-install"; scroll down to "setup.exe" (usually the 4th-last file) and double-click on that.

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    Step 16: Click Next lots.

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    Step 17: When the installer program finishes (and each time you want to make PDFs)

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    Step 18: start Open Office by clicking on the Start button

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    Step 19: Programs

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    Step 20: Open Office and Open Document.

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    Step 21: For each document you want to make into a PDF

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    Step 22: click on the little yellow folder at the top near the middle and choose the document

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    Step 23: then click on File

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    Step 24: Export to PDF to save it out as a PDF.

Detailed Guide

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