Overview

Converting documents from one format to another can be a tiresome task, especially when you need to convert multiple files with different settings. A reliable program with advanced options and a convenient interface is what you need for this job- something like Universal Document Converter. With it you can convert quickly any document into a PDF or 7 other popular formats and save them or print them afterwards. Of course the program is not limited to these functions only, but it also gives you the power to edit many conversion settings.

Installation

The installation wizard will guide you through the whole process, which won’t take more than a couple of minutes. Basically you’ll be installing a virtual printer; whenever you want to convert a document you will open it with its assigned application and “print” it using the virtual printer.

Upon the installation’s completion you’ll prompted to set Universal Document Printer as the default printer and add a toolbar in Microsoft Office.

Supported operating systems are Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, 7, 8 and Server 2012.

Interface

As mentioned above, to use UDC you have to open a document, use the “Print” function and from the list of available printers select “Universal Document Converter”. Clicking on “Preferences” (or “Properties” in some cases) you’ll presented with the program’s main interface. There is a sidebar on the left with 10 tabs: Page Setup, File Format, Adjustments, Watermark, Output Location, Post Processing, Load Settings, Save Settings, Advanced and About. The contents of window change according to the selected tab, except for the right-hand side which always shows a preview of the converted document and a few properties (page size, output format, color depth, etc.).

After making the changes you wish, click OK to dismiss the window and then proceed to print the document. You’re not really going to print the file but rather choose a name and a location to save its converted counterpart, with a small window appearing to show you the status of the overall process.

Pros

The works with any program that supports printing of files (and as of version v5.5 it is fully compatible with Microsoft Office 2013 as well). Supported output formats are PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PCX, DCX, GIF and BMP.

Advanced settings are available to you through the program’s pleasant interface, such as: paper size, width/height (in inches/millimeters/pixels), resolution (in dpi), color depth, multipage options, crop & resize settings, watermark and others. Saving your settings is possible so that you can load them at a later time.

After the conversion finishes you have the option to open the document with its default viewer or a custom application that you choose, in which case you can specify parameters too. But you can always opt-out from performing any action after the conversion is complete.

Cons

No cons here, except for the watermark that is added in every converted document when using the Demo version.

Alternatives

Most software of this kind limit their functionality to converting only to PDF files. (paid) is one of the few ones that support conversion between other formats too, including DOC, RTF, TXT, ODT, HTML and JPEG. Zan Image Printer (paid) is a similar alternative, however it rarely gets updated (last update was more than half a year ago; same as the update before that).

Conclusion

UDC is a recommended software for the ones who want to convert their files to various documents, since it’s an easy to use, highly configurable application that gets update regularly to fix bugs and implement new features.