Is it true that you cannot print pdf without a subscription for Adobe Reader?

Dear Ruth Sandon

Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A forum regarding this issue. I understand how stressful it can be when something as simple as printing doesn’t work as expected, especially when you’re trying to stay paperless.

Please note that this is a Microsoft forum, and Adobe Acrobat is not a Microsoft product but I’ll do my best to help clarify this for you.

Based on my research, printing PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free version) is still available at no cost. Printing is a core feature and does not require a subscription. The free version allows you to view, print, and annotate PDFs without paying anything. If your goal is to print an existing PDF on paper, you can simply open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, press Ctrl + P, select the correct printer, and print it.

However, if you were trying to “Print to Adobe PDF” (which means creating a PDF from another file using Adobe’s virtual printer), this feature requires a paid subscription.

If you only need to create a PDF from a Word or Excel file, the easiest approach is to use the built-in Save as PDF feature (press F12 in Word or Excel). Once the PDF is created, you can open it in Adobe Acrobat or even in Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl + P, select your physical printer (not Adobe’s virtual printer), and print it.

Please try this method and let us know if it resolves your issue. If you were attempting to open a Word file directly in Adobe Acrobat, that also requires an Acrobat Pro license. In that case, using the Save as PDF option in Word or Excel is the best alternative.

I hope this helps clear things up! If you have any other questions, feel free to comment, we’re happy to help.

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In Office, there is a limit for creating PDFs with Adobe capabilities. For those Office versions that include it, you can convert to PDF using the Adobe tab on the ribbon, and that feature is limited to a specific number of documents per month.

However, you can create PDFs from within Word (for example) using Save As. This comes with no restrictions.

P.S. You can always print (as in creating a physical printout of) a PDF from Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded from https://get.adobe.com/reader/ (third-party link).

Wow. The number of people who chimed in without a correct answer is impressive. The answer is, it depends, but probably NO.
Adobe PDF printer drivers require a valid adobe license. We have that problem here where we manage 15,600 computers. They see the Adobe PDF option and try it and if fails for some reason. The reason for us, they have never signed into an Adobe product to verify their license. We give them two options. Sign in, or use the Microsoft PDF printer. Once they sign in, they can use Adobe PDF printing from any supported application.

The probably was because over the years and contracts, Adobe has allowed this feature in this version or contract and not in that version... you get it.