Open, save, and print PDFs
This article covers the basic Farino PDF workflow: opening documents, creating a new PDF, saving, printing, and recovering unsaved work. Everything here works in the free edition, except a few export formats noted below.
Open a PDF
When the app starts, the Start tab shows the start screen. From here you can open a document, pick a popular tool, or reopen a recent file.
You can open a PDF in several ways:
- Click Open PDF on the start screen, then choose a file in the Windows dialog.
- Or click File › Open (
Ctrl+O). The folder icon in the title bar opens the same dialog. - Or drag a PDF from File Explorer into the app window.
To reopen a document you used recently, use File › Open Recent (Ctrl+Shift+O) or the Recent files list at the bottom of the start screen.
Work with several documents
Each PDF opens in its own tab, next to the Start tab. Click a tab name to switch documents. A colored dot before the tab name means the document has unsaved changes.
Right-click a tab to open the tab menu:
- Close Tab, Close All, Close Others, Close Left, and Close Right close several tabs at once.
- Copy Path to Clipboard and Open Containing Folder work for files opened or saved through the Windows dialog.
- Print Current Tab and Print All Tabs print one tab or all open tabs combined.
If the tabs do not fit on screen, click the arrow at the right end of the tab row to see a list of all open PDFs.
Create a new PDF
- Click File › Create PDF › Blank PDF (
Ctrl+N), or the + icon in the title bar. - In the New Document panel, choose a starting point in Start from: Blank pages or one of the ready-made templates, such as an official letter, receipt, or invoice.
- Choose the Page size (A4, F4, Folio, Letter, Legal, or A3) and the Orientation (Portrait or Landscape).
- For blank pages, enter the number in Pages (blank only).
- Click Create Document. The new document opens in a new tab.
The File › Create PDF menu also has From Images, From Word, From Excel, From PowerPoint, From Web Page, and From Template.
Save a document
Save
Click File › Save (Ctrl+S) or the save icon in the title bar. The Windows Save dialog opens with the current file name. Choose the location and name, then click Save. If you have annotations that are not applied yet, Farino PDF applies them to the document before saving.
Save As and other formats
File › Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) opens the Save As dialog with a File format list:
| Format | What you get | Edition |
|---|---|---|
| PDF document (.pdf) | A PDF copy. The suggested name ends in -copy. | Free |
| Word document (.docx) | Conversion to Word with conversion settings. | Pro |
| Excel workbook (.xlsx) | Conversion to Excel. | Pro |
| PowerPoint presentation (.pptx) | Conversion to PowerPoint. | Pro |
| Page images (.jpg / .png) | Each page as an image. | Free |
| Text document (.txt) | Text from the PDF text layer. | Free |
| Web page (.html) | Text per page as a web page. | Free |
| EPUB ebook (.epub) | Text as an e-book. | Free |
| Markdown (.md) | Text per page in Markdown. | Pro |
- Choose a format in File format, then click Continue.
- For Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and images, adjust the conversion settings if asked.
- Choose the folder and file name in the Windows Save dialog.
In the free edition, formats that need a license are marked License required and cannot be selected.
The same text formats are also in File › To Other Formats: To Text, To HTML, To EPUB, and To Markdown. These commands use the active PDF directly.
- Click File › Print (
Ctrl+P) or the printer icon in the title bar. - In Destination, choose a printer. The list shows the printers installed in Windows.
- In Print range, choose All pages, Current page, or Custom pages. For specific pages, enter for example
2-5, 8. - Set Copies, Layout (Portrait or Landscape), and Paper size.
- Check the preview on the right. Use the arrows below the preview to see other pages.
- Click Print.... The Windows print dialog opens for final confirmation.
Pages are fitted to the printable area. Printer properties, color, and two-sided printing are set in the Windows dialog after you click Print.... Nothing prints until you confirm there.
View document properties
Click File › Properties (Ctrl+D) to see the file name, page count, file size, title, author, subject, PDF version, and the application that produced the PDF. The file size does not include unsaved annotations.
Automatic drafts and recovery
Farino PDF saves recovery drafts of your open documents automatically. The draft status appears in the status bar at the bottom, next to a check box. Clear the check box if you do not want drafts to be created.
If the app closes before you save, you can recover the draft:
- Open PDF Workspace from the start screen, or click File › Create PDF › Blank PDF.
- A notice at the top shows how many documents from your last session can be restored.
- If there are several versions, choose the draft time in the list.
- Click Restore to reopen the documents, including annotations that were not applied yet. Click Dismiss to close the notice.
Drafts are kept for 7 days by default. Change this (1, 7, or 30 days) or clear all drafts in File › Settings, under Local privacy & recovery.
Close a document
Click × on the tab, or File › Close Document (Ctrl+W). If the document has unsaved changes, the Save changes? dialog appears:
- Save opens the Windows Save dialog, then closes the tab after saving.
- No closes the tab without saving the changes.
- Cancel keeps the document open.
The same question appears for each unsaved document when you close the app with File › Exit (Alt+F4).