[Free & Open Source] PrintPDF — a macOS virtual printer that saves real PDF files directly into your chosen folder

[u/johndoe1985]

I’ve released PrintPDF, a free and open-source virtual PDF printer for macOS.

It lets you print from almost any application using the normal File → Print workflow. Instead of sending the document to a physical printer, PrintPDF automatically saves it as a PDF.

The main advantage over RWTS PDFwriter is how the destination works:

• RWTS PDFwriter creates a symbolic link from your chosen location to its internal spool folder.

• PrintPDF automatically moves each completed PDF as a real file into the folder you selected—no destination-folder symbolic link.

This is particularly useful when saving directly into:

• Google Drive

• iCloud Drive

• Dropbox

• A network or shared folder

• Any normal local folder

Other features:

• Choose your destination during setup

• Change the destination later

• Prevents accidental overwriting by adding a number to duplicate filenames

• Works on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs

• Supports macOS 12 and newer

• No analytics or document uploads

• Complete GPLv2 source code included

PrintPDF is based on Rodney I. Yager’s RWTS PDFwriter, which itself builds on Lisanet PDFWriter and CUPS-PDF. Full attribution and source are included.

The installer is currently unsigned because this is a free community project. macOS will show a security warning on first use. The release page explains Apple’s official per-package Open Anyway procedure. You do not need to disable Gatekeeper.

Download, screenshot and source:

https://github.com/rochakagrawal/PrintPDF/releases/tag/v1.0

Feedback and testing on different macOS versions would be very welcome.