Redirection?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill & Debbie
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill & Debbie

When an application has output ready to print, is there a way to redirect
the output to a file instead of having it go to the printer? I would like
to email the information instead of printing it.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Bill
 
Bill said:
When an application has output ready to print, is there a way to redirect
the output to a file instead of having it go to the printer? I would like
to email the information instead of printing it.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Bill
Click to expand...
This is a little trickier than you might think. Normally, if you check
the "print to file" box that appears in the Print dialog box, you will
create a *.prn file, which can only be "read" by the printer for which
it was intended. Thus, the only way this would be useful if emailed
would be if the recipient had an identical printer installed. You print
*.prn files by using the copy command from a command prompt:
(e.g.: copy test.prn /b > lpt1)

The way around this (and I haven't tried this since Win95, but it should
still work) is to create a "Generic/Text" printer as follows:

Start > Printers and Faxes; click the link to "Add a printer" under
"Printer Tasks"

-- The Add Printer Wizard window will pop up, click on Next.

-- Click the radio button for "Local printer attached to this computer;
UNcheck the box for "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play
printer" if it is checked; click Next.

-- Select "Use the following port" and in the drop-down box, select
"FILE: (print to file)"; click Next.

-- Select the "Generic / Text" printer driver - press the 'G' key, the
list of manufacturers should jump to those beginning with G, highlight
the one which says "Generic"; then highlight the entry for "Generic /
Text Only"; click Next.

-- Give it a name and select "No" to the question "Do you want to use
this printer as the default printer"; click Next.

-- Click "Do not share"; click Next.

-- Click "No" for "do you want to print a test page?"; click Next.

-- click on Finish.

If you now 'print' to this printer a dialog asking you the name of the
file to print to will pop up.
 
Lem said:
This is a little trickier than you might think. Normally, if you check
the "print to file" box that appears in the Print dialog box, you will
create a *.prn file, which can only be "read" by the printer for which
it was intended. Thus, the only way this would be useful if emailed
would be if the recipient had an identical printer installed. You print
*.prn files by using the copy command from a command prompt:
(e.g.: copy test.prn /b > lpt1)

The way around this (and I haven't tried this since Win95, but it should
still work) is to create a "Generic/Text" printer as follows:

Start > Printers and Faxes; click the link to "Add a printer" under
"Printer Tasks"

-- The Add Printer Wizard window will pop up, click on Next.

-- Click the radio button for "Local printer attached to this computer;
UNcheck the box for "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play
printer" if it is checked; click Next.

-- Select "Use the following port" and in the drop-down box, select
"FILE: (print to file)"; click Next.

-- Select the "Generic / Text" printer driver - press the 'G' key, the
list of manufacturers should jump to those beginning with G, highlight
the one which says "Generic"; then highlight the entry for "Generic /
Text Only"; click Next.

-- Give it a name and select "No" to the question "Do you want to use
this printer as the default printer"; click Next.

-- Click "Do not share"; click Next.

-- Click "No" for "do you want to print a test page?"; click Next.

-- click on Finish.

If you now 'print' to this printer a dialog asking you the name of the
file to print to will pop up.
Click to expand...

Sorry, got my syntax a little confused in the copy command:
copy test.prn /b prn

[can probably omit the /b which means it's a binary file]
 
When an application has output ready to print, is there a way to
redirect the output to a file instead of having it go to the printer?
I would like to email the information instead of printing it.
Click to expand...

If both you and the recipient have MS-Office, one way is to choose the
printer "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer". This way, it doesn't
matter if the recipient has the same printer as yours.

More generally, there's Adobe PDF file format. Adobe sells software to
create these, and there are imitators available for free.
 
Thanks for the help.
Bill

MyVeryOwnSelf said:
If both you and the recipient have MS-Office, one way is to choose the
printer "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer". This way, it doesn't
matter if the recipient has the same printer as yours.

More generally, there's Adobe PDF file format. Adobe sells software to
create these, and there are imitators available for free.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the help. Your suggestion seem to work great!
Bill

Lem said:
Lem said:
This is a little trickier than you might think. Normally, if you check
the "print to file" box that appears in the Print dialog box, you will
create a *.prn file, which can only be "read" by the printer for which it
was intended. Thus, the only way this would be useful if emailed would
be if the recipient had an identical printer installed. You print *.prn
files by using the copy command from a command prompt:
(e.g.: copy test.prn /b > lpt1)

The way around this (and I haven't tried this since Win95, but it should
still work) is to create a "Generic/Text" printer as follows:

Start > Printers and Faxes; click the link to "Add a printer" under
"Printer Tasks"

-- The Add Printer Wizard window will pop up, click on Next.

-- Click the radio button for "Local printer attached to this computer;
UNcheck the box for "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play
printer" if it is checked; click Next.

-- Select "Use the following port" and in the drop-down box, select
"FILE: (print to file)"; click Next.

-- Select the "Generic / Text" printer driver - press the 'G' key, the
list of manufacturers should jump to those beginning with G, highlight
the one which says "Generic"; then highlight the entry for "Generic /
Text Only"; click Next.

-- Give it a name and select "No" to the question "Do you want to use
this printer as the default printer"; click Next.

-- Click "Do not share"; click Next.

-- Click "No" for "do you want to print a test page?"; click Next.

-- click on Finish.

If you now 'print' to this printer a dialog asking you the name of the
file to print to will pop up.
Click to expand...

Sorry, got my syntax a little confused in the copy command:
copy test.prn /b prn

[can probably omit the /b which means it's a binary file]
Click to expand...
 
Bill said:
Thanks for the help. Your suggestion seem to work great!
Bill

Lem said:
Lem said:
Bill & Debbie wrote:

When an application has output ready to print, is there a way to
redirect the output to a file instead of having it go to the printer? I
would like to email the information instead of printing it.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Bill

This is a little trickier than you might think. Normally, if you check
the "print to file" box that appears in the Print dialog box, you will
create a *.prn file, which can only be "read" by the printer for which it
was intended. Thus, the only way this would be useful if emailed would
be if the recipient had an identical printer installed. You print *.prn
files by using the copy command from a command prompt:
(e.g.: copy test.prn /b > lpt1)

The way around this (and I haven't tried this since Win95, but it should
still work) is to create a "Generic/Text" printer as follows:

Start > Printers and Faxes; click the link to "Add a printer" under
"Printer Tasks"

-- The Add Printer Wizard window will pop up, click on Next.

-- Click the radio button for "Local printer attached to this computer;
UNcheck the box for "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play
printer" if it is checked; click Next.

-- Select "Use the following port" and in the drop-down box, select
"FILE: (print to file)"; click Next.

-- Select the "Generic / Text" printer driver - press the 'G' key, the
list of manufacturers should jump to those beginning with G, highlight
the one which says "Generic"; then highlight the entry for "Generic /
Text Only"; click Next.

-- Give it a name and select "No" to the question "Do you want to use
this printer as the default printer"; click Next.

-- Click "Do not share"; click Next.

-- Click "No" for "do you want to print a test page?"; click Next.

-- click on Finish.

If you now 'print' to this printer a dialog asking you the name of the
file to print to will pop up.
Click to expand...
Sorry, got my syntax a little confused in the copy command:
copy test.prn /b prn

[can probably omit the /b which means it's a binary file]
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I'm glad it worked. Thanks for letting us know.
 
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