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I am trying to create a scheduled task to convert all my .vsd files to PDF format 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 and PDFCreator.

The approach of using OpenOffice doesn't work with .vsd files since it's not a supported format.

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 the document automatically 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 in Visio startup (command-line) switches and their purpose , but it doesn't explain about non-interactive printing.

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4 Answers 4

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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, 2013 at 16:34
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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, 2011 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, 2011 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, 2011 at 22:18
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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, 2011 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, 2011 at 7:23
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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, 2012 at 8:22

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