winget install --id=Mibuw.miPDFconvert -e miPDFconvert is a virtual PDF printer for Windows. Install it, print to the miPDFconvert printer from any application, and get a PDF - either handed automatically to a configurable target application or saved through a dialog. Based on clawPDF/mfilemon, uses Ghostscript. Installer and binaries are Authenticode-signed.
A virtual PDF printer for Windows. Install it and a new printer named miPDFconvert appears in Windows. Anything you print to it is converted to a PDF, which is then either handed to a configurable target application or offered to you through a Save As dialog.
miPDFconvert is a derivative work of clawPDF (and, through it, PDFCreator) and uses the mfilemon print port monitor. It is released under the GNU AGPL v3 — see Licensing.
Application ──► "miPDFconvert" printer ──► print port monitor (miPortMon)
│ PostScript spool file
▼
miPDFconvertBase (launcher)
│
▼
miPDFconvert ──► Ghostscript ──► PDF
│
┌───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
TARGET_APPLICATION is set: TARGET_APPLICATION is empty:
the PDF is passed to that app a "Save As" dialog is shown
winget:
winget install mipdfconvert
Chocolatey:
choco install mipdfconvert
> Ghostscript (32-bit or 64-bit) still needs to be installed separately (see Requirements). Newly submitted versions can take a few days to appear while they pass winget/Chocolatey moderation.
miPDFconvertSetup.exe. During setup you can optionally choose a
target application that should automatically receive the generated PDF — the selected
path is written to TARGET_APPLICATION in miPDFconvert.dll.config (leave it empty for a
Save As dialog; changeable later).Settings live in miPDFconvert.dll.config (next to miPDFconvert.exe in the install
directory), under ``:
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
TARGET_APPLICATION | (empty) | Path or name of an application that should automatically receive the generated PDF as a command-line argument. A relative path/bare file name is resolved against the install directory first. Leave empty to get a Save As dialog instead. |
CREATE_DOCUMENT_FILES | false | If true, keep the temporary PostScript file in %TEMP%. |
PDF_SETTINGS | /printer | Ghostscript quality preset: /printer (300 dpi, fast), /prepress (max quality/size), /ebook (150 dpi), /screen (72 dpi, smallest). |
Set TARGET_APPLICATION to the program that should open the freshly created PDF. The PDF
is written to a temporary file and passed as the first argument, so anything that accepts a
file path works — for example a PDF viewer, an archiving tool, or your own application:
The installer also offers an optional page to pick a target application; the chosen path is written to this setting during installation (leave it empty for the Save As dialog).
The target application is brought to the foreground automatically (including single-instance
apps such as browser-based viewers). If TARGET_APPLICATION is empty, miPDFconvert falls
back to a Save As dialog.
Prerequisites:
-PlatformToolset if you have a
different version installed (e.g. v143/v144).Build everything (native DLLs → SetupHelper → apps → installer) with the included script:
.\build.ps1
Useful switches: -SkipNative (skip the C++ projects), -SkipSetup (binaries only),
-PlatformToolset v144 (override the C++ toolset). The finished installer is written to
miPDFconvertSetup\Release\miPDFconvertSetup.exe.
> Microsoft PostScript driver files: The virtual printer uses Microsoft's inbox
> PostScript class driver (pscript5.dll, ps5ui.dll, pscript.hlp, pscript.ntf).
> These are not redistributed in this repository — build.ps1 copies them from the
> local Windows driver store into lib\miMonitor\... automatically before packaging the
> installer. Only the project's own ghostpdf.ppd is tracked in the repository.
Release builds can be Authenticode-signed; signing is off by default. To sign the project's own binaries and the installer (with timestamp):
$env:MIPDF_SIGN_SUBJECT = "Your certificate subject (CN)"
.\build.ps1 -Sign
The certificate subject is taken from -SignSubject or the MIPDF_SIGN_SUBJECT
environment variable and is intentionally not stored in the repository. Signing uses
signtool.exe (auto-located from the Windows SDK) and the Certum timestamp server. The
installer and uninstaller are signed by Inno Setup through a sign tool named certum
that must be configured locally (Inno Setup IDE → Tools → Configure Sign Tools);
build.ps1 -Sign activates it by passing /DSIGN to ISCC.
A runtime log is written to %ProgramData%\miPDFconvert\miPDFconvert.log.
miPDFconvert is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 — see
LICENSE. Because it combines AGPL/GPL components, the complete corresponding
source code must be made available to recipients (including users interacting with it over
a network, per AGPL §13).
Third-party components and their licenses are documented in
THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md:
> Note on Ghostscript: miPDFconvert does not bundle Ghostscript; it must be installed > separately by the user. If you choose to redistribute the Ghostscript binaries with your > own distribution, the AGPL (or a commercial Artifex license) applies to Ghostscript as well.
This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by clawSoft, pdfforge, or Artifex Software.
Wolfgang Mitterbucher — Software Engineering & Digital Identity, Leonding (Austria)
🌐 www.mitterbucher.com · 💼 LinkedIn · ✉️ office@mitterbucher.com
More open-source projects: miPDFconvert · miPDFvalidator · miEUDIverifier