PDF files are a great way to make your work look professional, particularly if you’re making it available on the web. But with Adobe Acrobat costing the equivalent of several weeks’ rent, it’s not a feasible option for most of us.

However, there are several alternatives that fit much more nicely into a student budget.

Cute PDF

This clever program is incredibly simple. It installs itself as a printer on your computer. Then, once you’ve created a file in Microsoft Word, Publisher, or any other program, simply click ‘print’.

Instead of printing, CutePDF will convert your file into a PDF in seconds. Straightforward enough for any of us to use, it’ll convert anything you can print – often providing you with an otherwise unobtainable hard copy of things you may find online but cannot save.

Download CutePDF here

Nitro PDF

Unfortunately it costs a bit of cash, but if you’re seriously into your design, it’s probably a good investment – and is over one hundred quid less than Adobe Acrobat! The makers claim it’s actually a better product than Acrobat, and have provided a list of reasons why you should buy it. And if you don’t need to use it on a long term basis, they provide a free trial.

Buy Nitro PDF here

Foxit Reader

The Adobe PDF reader is free of charge, but often slow and can eat up a lot of your computer’s memory. Foxit is a far quicker and less memory intensive alternative, plus for about £20 you can also purchase their PDF Creator.

Download Foxit Reader here

Photo taken from dariuszka’s photostream