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What do you mainly use it for.

Scanned documents? 

Other documents like reports that you want to provide in pdf format?

Forms?

Xactimate does provide a easy way to get your estimates in pdf format.

I have a few help guides that I can provide.  I thought I had them on the site someplace. I will try to locate them.

Many of the pdf coverters out there including PDF Factory install a pdf printer driver.   This printer makes it easy to convert your documents, scanned images, images from your camera and others into a pdf.  Say for example you scan a document but you scan it as a jpeg (image file) but you need it as pdf. 

You locate the image and double click on it to open it into whatever image program you are using.

Now that the image is open locate the printer icon or select print from the file menu.

You should see a printer in the printers like PDF Factory, Adobe  or others. 

Select the Printer and print your image.  This converts the image to a pdf and allows you to email it, upload it or combine it (stack) with other pdf documents.

You need to remember the folder you stored the pdf in, for example, My Documents\My PDFS\

Thanks for the comments about the site.

To stack the pdfs in PDF Factory Pro you need to print each document (using the PDF Factory printer driver) so that it opens in the preview window of PDF Factory, be sure to leave the preview window open until you have all of the documents you wish to include in the single pdf.  On the left side of the preview window you should see the documents.  You can change the order of the documents by clicking and dragging them in the order you want them.  Once you have all of the documents in the window and in the order you want them then just hit the save button at the bottom of the Preview Window and name the document, i.e. Claim 1234 Smith Documents, and then they will be merged into a single pdf. 

The trick here is to keep the Preview Window open to capture the documents, just don't close it after you print each document.

I will put together some visuals to show the steps later.

I've always used Adobe Acrobat, but if I didn't use it, I would use Foxit PDF. You might want to try that instead of PDF Factory.

I agree with using Adobe and it has been my favorite pdf tool for a long time. But if a good free version is needed I often recommend Primopdf. One main reason is because it does place the "Created By" info at the bottom of the page like the free (trial) version PDF Factory does. Also PrimoPDF is a free version not a trial software.

I am not sure where the OP got the idea that "most communication is done via" that horrible program that emblazons each and every page with an "I am too cheap to buy the tools I need to do this job" logo. 

 Our rule is simple: If a report comes in with "created by free trial version" on it, or any variation thereof, we will no longer solicit reports from that IA. If you are going to do the job, you need to have the tools required to do so. There are plenty of PDF stackers out there for less than your laser tape measure costs (<$100). Most of our guys are converts to Adobe, but there are still quite a few using Nuance, PDF Converter and a number of other platforms. It does not matter which they decide to use, so long as there is not an "I don't really do this professionally" stamp at the bottom of every page (or anywhere else). 

Posted By Leland on 04/02/2014 11:49 AM
Accelerated: Your rule is harsh, but that's the way it should be. Business needs harsh rules sometimes. And your companies image is on the line, you don't want one adjuster to damage it for everybody.

Imagine how the owner of the IA firm felt when the carrier informed him an adjuster told an insured he couldn't get to her New York home because he didn't have money for the toll bridge.

It's one thing to be low budget or poor or under-capitalized, most often there is no shame in that. But it's all together a different thing to project that image in business.

Low budget is fine. Go spend the $60-90 at any big box store and get a generic PDF stacker. You don't have to buy the newest latest edition of Adobe Pro. I don't think it's harsh at all to require someone to have the tools to do the job though, though I have been told differently. We require people to take photos on every loss, and we would not accept developed 35mm photos either. Go buy a digital camera. Same with recorded statements. We no longer accept 8mm, microcassettes or any other non-digitized media. Go get a digital recorder. Anything less is like presenting yourself as a carpenter without a hammer or a chef without knives. Yes, a carpenter can drive a nail with a rock, and yes, a chef will probably find a way to slice and dice without their own knives, but having the appropriate tools makes for a cleaner and more consistent end product. Plenty of part time adjusters find these rules infuriating, but the professionals, (the ones who adjust for a living and don't sling shingle or flip burgers between storms), have never had a problem with making sure that they have the tools to do the job. 

It's kind of entertaining to see a thread like this pop up amidst a bunch of others (here ad in other forums) talking about people being unable to find consistent work. Maybe I am making a huge leap and it is purely coincidence, but I find this thread (and several others started within the last few months) to be representative of why so many are having trouble finding regular customers. It costs less to get the software in this case than one gets paid on a single claim, yet people wish to be taken seriously when asking for $30k/month worth of cat work when they won't spend 0.002% of that on a piece of software (that will last them years).