# clawsoftware/clawPDF

Open Source Virtual (Network) Printer for Windows that allows you to create PDFs, OCR text, and print images, with advanced features usually available only in enterprise solutions.

Repository: https://github.com/clawsoftware/clawPDF
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/clawpdf
Homepage: https://github.com/clawsoftware/clawPDF
Language: C#
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: pdf, pdf-printer, windows, print, ocr, printer, merge, image-processing, network-printer, pdf-merger, terminalserver
Last push: 2023-05-16T14:55:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2761, "days_push": 1205, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1940, forks 225 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:57.306120+00:00)

## What it is
clawPDF is an open-source virtual printer for Windows that converts printed output into PDF, PDF/A, OCR text, SVG, and various image formats. It supports network/shared printing on print servers, scripting automation, encryption, and file merging, with enterprise-oriented features.

## Use cases
- print any document to pdf from windows
- convert printed output to searchable text with ocr
- create pdf/a archival documents
- set up a shared network pdf printer on a print server
- automate pdf creation with powershell or python scripts
- merge multiple printed files into one pdf
- encrypt pdfs with a password
- export printed pages as png jpeg or tif images

## When to choose
- you need a free, adware-free virtual pdf printer on windows
- you want pdf/a-compliant archival output
- you need to deploy a shared network printer across a terminal server or multi-user environment
- you want to automate document conversion via scripting or command line

## When to avoid
- you need a cross-platform solution for linux or macos
- you need to edit or annotate existing pdfs rather than create them
- you require a maintained commercial support contract

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: pdf, ocr, image-processing, cryptography, workflow-automation, cli
- domain: pdf, windows, developer-tools, files
- platform: windows
- tags: virtual-printer, network-printer, pdfa, pdf-merger, terminal-server, print-to-pdf, scripting-interface, csharp, automation

## Member repositories
- clawsoftware/clawPDF (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:57.306120+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:08:08.802581+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/clawsoftware/clawPDF (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:57.306120+00:00, sha 4d8c2c062be0)
  - homepage: https://github.com/clawsoftware/clawPDF (fetched 2026-08-29T10:47:18.367651+00:00, sha e46b82d18da2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.