New to online information publishing? Then there’s a good chance you’re wondering where people get those PDF file creators – and since you are bootstrapping it, you might especially be interested in a free PDF file creator.

We understand. Even though we aren’t at the start up phase anymore, but we still use a free PDF file creator mostly because we are really happy with it. But let’s backup a little bit.

There are multiple ways to create PDFs. Many of the free and popular ones are nothing more than virtual printers. That means, when you install it on your computer, it will show up as a printer in your printer list. One such free PDF file creator we’ve used a lot in the past is well… aptly named PDFCreator. It is an opensource program – so you pay nothing.

The other way is just to use a word processor that is also capable of saving or exporting to PDF. You can use Google Docs, or you can use OpenOffice – a program we use extensively and used to create all kinds of PDF documents from reports, checklists, paid products down to our (ahem!) beautiful blogging planner and calendar.

We really love OpenOffice. It works really well, opensource which we love to support and of course, that means you pay nothing.

While you’re going down this path, here are a few other things related to creating eBooks, digital publishing, formatting and PDF’s that you should know. These posts are based on the years of publishing our own digital content as well as helping clients. Take a few moments to go over them:

• How to publish ePub books
• How to create clickable text in your PDFs
• Tips for creating better PDF eBooks

Want more instruction to create great looking documents for distribution or sale? Pick up a copy of “Make Your Ebooks Sexy“. It will show you how to set up templates and styles so every document you publish will carry consistent formatting, look and feel that helps strengthen your brand. Best of all, the training uses a free PDF file creator to walk you through. No additional software investment required.