How to install a "pdf printer"?
Solution 1
Ubuntu ships with this functionality. Try opening gedit
(source: ubuntu.com) or another GUI text editor and clicking the print button:
When the Print dialog appears, select the "Print to File" printer and select a location for the PDF. After clicking Print, you should end up with a PDF file in that location containing an identical copy of what would have printed on a sheet of paper.
Solution 2
If you've CUPS installed, you can easily add a "PDF Printer" by installing the cups-pdf package:
sudo apt-get install cups-pdf
or since Ubuntu 16.04
sudo apt-get install printer-driver-cups-pdf
The pdf printer provided by that package will "print" the resulting PDFs into the /home/[user]/PDF
directory.
Solution 3
Whenever you print , there is already an option for "print to file". I hope you are talking about that.. if not then please elaborate your question
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The Student
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Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
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The Student almost 2 years
Is there a way to install a printer that prints to pdf?
There's a lot of discussions about this in the web foruns, but none seens to work.
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Salvatore Cassano about 6 yearsA more up to date answer can be found here
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The Student over 12 yearsYes, depending on the software you are using there's already this option. But for Astah UML, for example, there isn't. I would like something like the "print2pdf" software (this one, for Windows).
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The Student over 12 yearsIt's correct, the problem is with wine! Apps running under wine will not have access to this printer.. :(
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tohuwawohu over 12 yearsThe
cups-pdf
printer is available also for applications running underwine
. -
westeros91 about 12 yearsa lot of other image and text viewers and editors have this option
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foobarbecue almost 9 yearsThis built in printer only shows up in certain applications... For example, it doesn't show up in Thunderbird or LibreOffice.
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sergej almost 7 yearsSince Ubuntu 16.04, the package is called
printer-driver-cups-pdf
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Hamman Samuel over 6 yearsI get blank output files
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Freedom_Ben about 6 yearsIt can take a minute or so to complete "printing." So if you're getting blank pages or a "corrupted pdf," just give it a few minutes and check back later.
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opinion_no9 over 5 yearssince Ubuntu 18.04 the cups-pdf and its successor printer-driver-cups-pdf do not work any more. The "printer" disappears. Any idea how to print PDF from wine based apps??
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Gabriel Staples over 4 yearsNote that when using
sudo apt install cups-pdf
at least, the new "printer" that shows up in your print menu is called simplyPDF
, and when you select this printer and click the "Print" button, it then outputs the generated PDFs into this folder:~/PDF
, with a file name such asjob_217-untitled_document.pdf
. It took me a while to find them, as it looked like nothing was happening, and no dialog box came up (in typical Linux fashion: not very user-friendly!) -
gerardw over 4 years@opinion_no9: see askubuntu.com/questions/1090245/… for 18.04 fix.
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opinion_no9 over 4 yearsYes, this is independent from "print to file". apt-get install cups-pdf is back for a while. In Ubuntu 19 and 20 I could use it again. Works fine. mostly. Acts like a printer (same like the Redmond workaround).
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jordiburgos over 3 yearsUsing this you have to be careful of not overwriting your last printed file.
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ATutorMe almost 3 yearsRan
sudo apt install cups-pdf
in Ubuntu 21.04.apt
automatically detects this:Note, selecting 'printer-driver-cups-pdf' instead of 'cups-pdf'
and installsprinter-driver-cups-pdf
correctly.