How to print documents to pictures (gif, bmp etc.) on windows

You can use PDFCreator. It's free and open source. Here's a bit more info on it:

  • Create PDFs from any program that is able to print Security: Encrypt PDFs and protect them from being opened, printed etc
  • New: Digitally sign your PDFs to ensure that you are the author and the file has not been modified
  • New: Create PDF/A files for long term archives
  • Send generated files via eMail
  • Create more than just PDFs: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, EPS
  • AutoSave files to folders and filenames based on Tags like Username, Computername, Date, Time etc.
  • Merge multiple files into one PDF Easy Install: Just say what you want and everything is installed
  • Terminal Server: PDFCreator also runs on Terminal Servers without problems
  • And the best: PDFCreator is free, even for commercial use! It is Open Source and released under the Terms of the GNU General Public License.

What is the easiest way to capture the printout of a document in a picture (i.e. GIF, BMP etc.)? Making a screenshot does not help

oh yes, it does .... if you have the right software :)

Faststone Capture does exactly what you want:

Capture windows, objects, menus, full screen, rectangular/freehand regions and scrolling windows/web pages

Faststone Capture version 5.3 is free, and so is its portable variant.