Is there a tutorial for printing web pages to PDF with clickable links?

When we download programs from the Internet on the Windows XP PC, we often
archive the landing page of the software download feature set so as to have
a reference point for each download for the future.

We could archive that software home page by saving HTML and then convert
the HTML to pdf somehow; but that generally creates a multi-file mess in
our downloads hierarchy. Printing to a single PDF with embedded top-level
clickable links seems so much more straightforward, if it can be done.

We can post-process add the missing top-level links manually using Adobe
Acrobat Standard software; but how does one automatically embed top-level
hypertext links when printing a web page to PDF on Windows XP?

Googling for web page to PDF printing on WinXP, I find the following
potential software solutions:
- Adobe Acrobat http://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/pdf.html
- PrimoPDF version 2.0 http://www.primopdf.com
- CutePDF version 2.5 http://www.cutepdf.com
- eDocPrinter PDF Pro version 6.18 http://www.iteksoft.com
- VirtualPDF Printer version 1.01 http://www.go2pdf.com/products.html
- PDF995 version 7.55s http://www.pdf995.com
- PDF Online version http://www.gohtm.com
- ActivePDF version 4.0 http://www.activepdf.com
- FinePrint pdfFactory version 2.46 http://www.fineprint.com
etc.

Is there a simple tutorial out there that you know of which shows how to
use a PDF printing program to print a web landing page to a single pdf file
containing embedded top-level clickable hypertext links?

Tony

Anthony Susa <susa.j.anthony@neosporum.com> wrote:

>Is there a tutorial for printing web pages to PDF with clickable links?

This isn't completely impossible, but is fairly unlikely. The "print
to PDF" method won't pass the information about links to the
"printer", so it can't make links.

There are plenty of other methods. For instance, the free tool
htmldoc. But since you already seem to have Acrobat, why not use
Create PDF > From Web Page?
----------------------------------------
Aandi Inston quite@dial.pipex.com http://www.quite.com
Please support usenet! Post replies and follow-ups, don't e-mail them.

On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 21:03:35 GMT, Aandi Inston wrote:
>>Is there a tutorial for printing web pages to PDF with clickable links?
> Why not use Create PDF > From Web Page?

Hi Aandi,

Why not? Because I didn't know about the Adobe Acrobat Standard command:
- File > Create PDF > From Web Page

Thank you for pointing that wonderful command out. Indeed, it does create a
PDF of a web page or even the entire web site, with clickable links in the
PDF just as we asked! This is great! I found the tutorial for this at:
- http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/...t_4_part2.html

I also found, while searching, other options, including the Microsoft
Internet Explorer menu to do the same thing:
- View > Explorer Bar > Adobe PDF >
- Convert Current Web Page to an Adobe PDF File
The tutorial for the IE Web Capture to clickable PDF is at:
- http://www.acrotips.com/pdf/tips/6024.pdf

Both seem to have some problems with javascript (or maybe it's just my
browser setup) but otherwise the links embedded in the PDF are clickable.

Thanks also for the additional suggestion of using htmldoc freeware
- http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...id,5114,00.asp
But users should note only the version 1.5 is freeware; later versions are
no longer freeware apparently.

Another option is to use HTML2EXE to create a single file of a web site:
- http://www.softpicks.net/software/HTML2EXE-11403.htm

These are the only known methods so far to create a single-file PDF (or in
the case of HTML2EXE, a single-file exe) of an entire web site yet which
also contains all the links clickable by the user.

If you know of other methods to print an entire web site to PDF containing
clickable links, please post so we all gain knowledge together,

Tony Susa

Anthony Susa <susa.J.Anthony@neosporum.com> wrote:

>Why not? Because I didn't know about the Adobe Acrobat Standard command:
>- File > Create PDF > From Web Page
....
>Both seem to have some problems with javascript (or maybe it's just my
>browser setup) but otherwise the links embedded in the PDF are clickable.

This conversion does not use your browser at all. This means that
JavaScript and other things simply cannot work; it converts HTML and
graphics only.

>Thanks also for the additional suggestion of using htmldoc freeware
>- http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...id,5114,00.asp
>But users should note only the version 1.5 is freeware; later versions are
>no longer freeware apparently.

Thanks for the update.
----------------------------------------
Aandi Inston quite@dial.pipex.com http://www.quite.com
Please support usenet! Post replies and follow-ups, don't e-mail them.

Aandi Inston wrote:
> Anthony Susa <susa.J.Anthony@neosporum.com> wrote:
> >Thanks also for the additional suggestion of using htmldoc freeware
> >- http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...id,5114,00.asp
> >But users should note only the version 1.5 is freeware; later versions are
> >no longer freeware apparently.
>
> Thanks for the update.

Htmldoc is still free but you'll have the build it from the source.

Paulo