Converting Visio (.vsd) files to PDF automatically

Question

I am trying to create a scheduled task to convert all my .vsd files to PDF format so all of our devices can read them (Linux, Mac, smartphones, etc.), and I would prefer not paying for something that can be done with Visio and PDFCreator.

The approach of using OpenOffice doesn't work with .vsd files since it's not a supported format.

What I've currently is this:

'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Visio11\VISIO.EXE' /pt "Z:\\Archive\Files.vsd",-PPDFCREATORPRINTER /nologo

That is able to open the document automatically I want and to prepare it to be printed. The only missing part is that it requires me to confirm on the printing dialog.

There's some information in Visio startup (command-line) switches and their purpose , but it doesn't explain about non-interactive printing.

Solution

You can use PrintConductor together with PDFCreator to complete your task. Go to PDFCreator -> Options -> Auto-save -> check "Use Auto-save" and select desired settings. All your result pdf files will be stored in the folder you specified.

Comments

[aseques]

That seems a good aproach, but I'm having serious issues with 1.2.1 under 2008 server. The autoprinting doesn't seem to work properly. All the elements stay on the queue forever.

[aseques]

I've been looking at this, but this seems more like a set of libraries to be used with VBA, or am I wrong. I'd like something that can be automated but with an easier language...

[aseques]

Also the /PF flag doesn't have any documentation I could find... To bad that Microsoft didn't implement this from stock :(

[David Moreno García]

from the help file /PF<filename> Print a file with the standard program linking with the extension of the file. In general, this option is useful in connection with Auto-Save mode. It is not possible to use this parameter in conjunction with the /OF parameter. There is NO space between the parameter and the file name. Example: pdfcreator.exe /PF"C:\help.doc" You can also use wildcards to create PDF's of all documents in a specified folder. Example: pdfcreator.exe /PF"C:*.doc"

[aseques]

It seems quite a good solution, the only problem is that it requires Office 2007, and since I am using Visio 2003 (mostly because it can be used in terminal server without license restrictions) I won't be able to use it at least until I update

[aseques]

Printconductor is very nice, but it has a major drawback, in command line mode you can't start printing automatically, only choose the proper .lst file