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I am trying to create a scheduled task to convert all my .vsd files to pdf so all of our devices can read them (linux, mac, smartphones, etc..) and I would prefer not paying for something that can be done with Visio + PDFcreator.

The approach of using openoffice doesn't work with .vsd files since it's not a supported format ( Method/tools for batch-converting Microsoft Word files into PDF?)

What I've currently is this: 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Visio11\VISIO.EXE' /pt "Z:\Archive\Files.vsd",-PPDFCREATORPRINTER /nologo

That is able to open automatically the document I want and to prepare it to be printed, the only missing part is that it requires me to confirm on the printing dialog.

There's some information here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314392 but it doesn't explain abotu non interactive printing.

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migrated from serverfault.com Jun 23 '11 at 14:43


4 Answers

A quick search found this script that saves .doc files to PDF, which is built in to Office. Visio has the same functionality, so if you put in some research you should be able to modify the script to do it for VSDs.

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It seems quite a good solution, the only problem is that it requires Office 2007, and since I am using Visio 2003 (mostly because it can be used in terminal server without license restrictions) I won't be able to use it at least until I update –  Aseques Sep 3 '12 at 8:22
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You can use PrintConductor together with PDFCreator to complete your task. Go to PDFCreator -> Options -> Auto-save -> check "Use Auto-save" and select desired settings. All your result pdf files will be stored in the folder you specified.

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Printconductor is very nice, but it has a major drawback, in command line mode you can't start printing automatically, only choose the proper .lst file –  Aseques Apr 4 '13 at 16:34
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You may be able to use AutoHotKey to automate the confirming-the-print-dialog part.

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I've been looking at this, but this seems more like a set of libraries to be used with VBA, or am I wrong. I'd like something that can be automated but with an easier language... –  Aseques Jul 19 '11 at 6:11
AutoHotkey is a way to script keyboard and mouse interactions. It has nothing to do with VBA specifically, although you can use it to automate interactions with VBA programs. –  Handyman5 Jul 19 '11 at 7:23
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Try the other way round, use PDFcreator to call the print job.

  1. Set pdf creator to autosave
  2. C:\Program Files\PDFCreator>PDFCreator.exe /PF"C:\V1*.vsd"

Search the PDFcreator help for autosave and command line parameters for the settings you need.

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That seems a good aproach, but I'm having serious issues with 1.2.1 under 2008 server. The autoprinting doesn't seem to work properly. All the elements stay on the queue forever. –  Aseques Jun 30 '11 at 14:31
Also the /PF flag doesn't have any documentation I could find... To bad that Microsoft didn't implement this from stock :( –  Aseques Jul 19 '11 at 6:12
from the help file /PF<filename> Print a file with the standard program linking with the extension of the file. In general, this option is useful in connection with Auto-Save mode. It is not possible to use this parameter in conjunction with the /OF parameter. There is NO space between the parameter and the file name. Example: pdfcreator.exe /PF"C:\help.doc" You can also use wildcards to create PDF's of all documents in a specified folder. Example: pdfcreator.exe /PF"C:*.doc" –  JoeOD Aug 29 '11 at 22:18
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