PDF Vista

PDF Vista is a comprehensive and approachable PDF conversion program that installs as a virtual printer. Made for first-time and experienced users alike, it comes loaded with settings for font embedding, PDF metadata, and password protection.

Setting up this application is fast and simple. Once it's ready, you can access PDF Vista from any printing function supported by an installed app.

As previously mentioned, it comes equipped with a bunch of user-friendly printing preferences that you can customize to your liking, so don't proceed to convert the documents to PDFs just yet.

The tool loads all available fonts in a list and lets you browse it to select any of them you want to embed in the new PDF files. As hinted by PDF Vista, the surest way to know that fonts will be properly displayed on any machine is by embedding all of them.

When it comes to document information, you can specify the PDF's title, subject, author, keywords and Adobe version for compatibility purposes (PDF 1.3 or 1.4). By default, you are asked for a file name and destination folder every time you want to print a file, but you can set the program to automatically perform this task in a given directory instead. Plus, it can overwrite any files with existing names, or rename the new files.

Lastly, the encryption feature permits you to restrict user access by protecting the PDFs with a password. You can pick the encryption level between 40 bits (low) and 128 bits (high), manage user permissions (e.g. allow printing, doc signing, adding comments, filing forms), and set two separate keys for opening the docs and for permissions, respectively.

As far as general options are concerned, PDF Vista lets you define the paper size (e.g. A4, letter, tabloid, screen, custom), choose the page orientation (portrait or landscape), and indicate the PDF quality (resolution and scale).

Files were rapidly converted to PDF format at high quality throughout our evaluation, during which the app remained light on resources consumption. It didn't freeze, crash or show error notifications. Given its advanced, yet intuitive settings, PDF Vista turns out to be a reliable PDF printer for users of any skill level. Too bad that it doesn't have a built-in batch conversion mode.

NOTE: If you want to install a shared PDF printer on the local network, check out PDF Vista Server Edition.