For any purposes, you may want to print or save your document into image format such as BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF, PDF or even RAW. The cheapest and easiest way to do so is by installing a virtual printer; ImagePrinter. This virtual printer allows you to print from any program to image format. You can download the installer here (996 kb). After install, you can configure the options to what image format you would print in File Format tab. Define the print output folder and press OK. Next, to print you have to choose ImagePrinter on print dialog box from any software then print as usual. I tried it, A4 sheet with full text produces file size around 936 kb in TIFF format by LZW compression and image dimension 2480 x 3507 pixels. If you print to PDF, it doesn’t produce a postscript PDF file but a raster document.
--Update on 02/Oct/2010--
Many people come to this page looking for a PNG printer and the ImagePrinter doesn't work well to handle large paper size document, especially the presence of watermark added by the free version of the software as reported. After digging for better alternative, you may try PDFCreator (download it here). Similar with ImagePrinter, PDFCreator is a virtual printer that is able to produce a PDF file and some other image format and it works well to handle large size document and doesn't add any watermark. But, when it comes to PNG files, it's unable to produce a transparent background as it is PNG format's ability.
Better output
I myself prefer to use this method to produce an better (if I can't say best) image output especially from Microsoft Word document:
- Export to PDF using Adobe Acrobat (choose press quality for best output)
- Import the PDF files to CorelDraw. Even I will be able to re-edit the file.
- Export to any image format from CorelDraw
This "fully functional" demo leaves giant freaking watermarks on anything you print. It also spinlocks and crashes if you try and select anything but TIFF.
Sorry about that. When I reviewed the software, it doesn't leave any watermark. Unfortunately, you cannot expect too much from this kind of tiny free software. I've made an update to the article, please recheck.
Huh; worked great for me. Printed to PDF, no watermark. Seems fine.
BULLZIP pdf printer (freeware) has the option to print to BMP, JFG, PNG, and many other formats in addition to PDF. It works flawlessly on Win7. I swear by it. You can get it from CNet, for a guaranteed safe download. Happy imaging! -LL