Universal Document Converter 6.8

Converts DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, AutoCAD drawings, Visio charts and other types of files either into PDF documents or JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, DCX and PCX images.

Universal Document Converter is intended to convert any kind of printable document into an image or a PDF. Like many other tools, it works by installing a virtual printer, which you can access from any program that supports printing. Many image output formats are supported, including JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PCX, and DCX.

Using the program is not more difficult than using a real printer. However, to prevent any complications, there is an excellent tutorial. In order to convert a document, you first need to open it in an application that supports its type. Then, you should look for the Print command. If you want to use the default settings, you just need to press the OK button. However, in case you need to personalize the output, you may change the printing preferences. This way, you are allowed to pick an output format, resolution and set page size. As extra features, the tool allows you to automatically detect and crop unnecessary borders, add text and picture watermarks and configure post-processing operations (such as running a custom program). And in the case of PDFs, the tool can protect them with passwords. Fortunately, your settings can be saved for their later use. Finally, I must say that the program does not affect the quality of the source document.

All in all, Universal Document Converter is not so “universal” as its name may suggest because the program can only export to some formats. Just to mention an example, it cannot convert from PDF to Word. Moreover, it does not let you configure additional PDF properties, like the use of fonts. The product has a trial version that can be used indefinitely but leaves a watermark on the output files. In addition, it seems to me that the program may be somewhat overpriced, as there are other rather similar tools that can be used at no cost.