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PowerPDF gives you far greater control than EPrint offers over the PDF files you create, but EPrint provides a lot more options for printing and file conversion. PowerPDF lets you preview the document, e-mail it with a single click, and set it to be compatible with special features in Adobe Reader 3, 4, or 5. You can also select specific fonts to embed--or to reduce file size, you can choose not to embed any, taking your chances with the fonts installed on the recipient's machine. The program lets you create custom watermarks to protect your work from unauthorized copying, and it provides five different image-compression settings, along with a one-click option to reduce the size of all raster images to 72 dpi to optimize them for viewing on a browser.

EPrint permits you to save files in hundreds of other formats, including Photoshop (.psd), Windows Metafile Formats (.wmf and .emf), and WordPerfect Graphics (.wpg). It also gives you five resolution options, as well as the ability to send jobs to several printers (and e-mail recipients) at once.

EPrint has a good screen-capture utility that lets you grab a full screen or any combination of on-screen elements. Place it in your Quick Launch toolbar for fast access to individual capture functions, or do your grabbing via hot-key combinations.

EPrint is much clunkier to use than PowerPDF, however: You have to set its e-mail options manually, for example (PowerPDF links to your default e-mail client automatically); and the lack of a preview option means that, to check how a file looks, you have to open it in the target application before you print or transmit it.

For a fast and simple way to create, send, and print PDFs, PowerPDF is your program. Meanwhile, EPrint will give you more output alternatives than you can shake a mouse at.

SUMMARY

Leadtools EPrint 3 A one-stop file-conversion utility with a rough interface. Price when tested: $99 Current prices, if available.

SUMMARY

Xelerate Software PowerPDF 2 Full of PDF creation options, but supports fewer file formats. Price when tested: $50 Current prices, if available.

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