Overview
Now you can create the Print Page for your document.
The Print Page is where Print My Blog combines all your chosen content, design, and metadata into a single HTML file and lets the browser do the final touch-ups before downloading the file in the format you requested (for anyone technical, the main thing it does here is executes Javascript.)
Generating Digital and Print-Ready PDFS
For both Digital and Print-Ready PDFs, after you click “Generate”, you are taken to the Print Page. At the top of the page are several actions, and below them is the project’s content, ready to be sent for printing.
Here is the Print Page when generating a PDF.
The buttons available are:
- Print with Browser which will use your browser to print or create a PDF. Browsers don’t support all of the features Pro Print is capable of, but it’s free
- Download Test PDF will create a PDF using our Pro PDF Service, but it will have watermarks on it. It’s free to use and requires no signup, and is a good way to get a preview of your document before spending any money
- Purchase Subscription will take you to the payment page so you can use the Pro PDF Service and Print My Blog Pro. After you have upgraded, this will be replaced with a button to Download Paid PDF which will be identical to the Test PDF but without the watermarks
- Back button in the top-left takes you back to the generate page
- Help! takes you to the help page
Once you click “Download Test PDF”, the PDF file is created from the content you see on the Print Page, and downloaded. You can then open it with the program of your choice.
By default, most programs will view PDF files one page at a time. That’s appropriate for digital PDFs, but print-ready PDFs are best viewed two pages at a time, and the first page should be a right-hand page.
To do that on Windows’ PDF viewer, click:
- “Page View”
- “Two Page”
- “Show Cover Page Separately”
To do that in Adobe Acrobat Reader, do:
- “View”
- “Page Display”
- “Two Page Scrolling”
Leave “Show Cover Page in Two Page View” as checked.
Generating ePub eBooks and Word Documents
The Print Page for ePub eBooks and Word Documents is simpler, as this page is only available with the purchase of a license, and then it affords unlimited downloads (so there’s no need for test files.)
After clicking “Generate” for the ePub format, you’re again taken to the Print Page where the final touch-ups are made to the document.
Just download as many ePub or Word Document files as often as you like without worrying about any limits like there are with PDFs.
Viewing ePub eBooks
Once it’s downloaded, there are many different ways to view the eBook:
- on your computer, download Calibre eBook Management to open it
- if you hope to sell the eBook on Amazon, download the Kindle Previewer
- download the file to your phone (e.g., attach the ePub file to an email and send it to yourself, then open it on your phone), and open it in Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo, or nearly any other eBook reader on your phone.
Viewing Word Documents
Word documents can be viewed for free using Microsoft Word online, Libre Office, Open Office, Google Docs and other software. Microsoft Word for desktop, however, requires a purchase.
ePubs and Amazon Kindle
The biggest eBook marketplace is Amazon, and there’s a complicated situation that merits explaining.
Amazon used to prefer their proprietary format, MOBI, over the ePub format. But that situation has changed.
When submitting eBooks to Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing, successor of CreateSpace), they now prefer you submit the file as an ePub.
However, if you download the ePub file to your phone and send it to the Amazon Kindle App, it will try to convert the ePub into the old MOBI format, which can remove some of its formattings. So unless you’re uploading the ePub eBook to Amazon KDP, I’d recommend reading the book in any other app.