79. Configure Printer Options from Any Application  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 2 Find, Launch, and Quit an Application 78 Add a New Printer
 SEE ALSO 80 Print to a PDF File 90 Print Photos
Every Mac OS X application uses the same printing setup screens. There's typically a Page Setup dialog box, in which you define how the application should handle fitting your document to a given paper size ; and then there's the Print dialog box, where you can specify dozens of options specific to your printer before sending the document to be printed. You can configure everything from the number of copies to print to the Quartz and ColorSync post-processing to apply. If you frequently use complex configurations, you can save your configuration as a printing preset. | 1. | Open Page Setup From TextEdit, Word, or any other application that can print, choose File, Page Setup . This command brings up the Page Setup dialog box, in which you define the document's layout relative to the style and size of paper that you'll be using. TIP The Page Setup options often affect how the application itself displays your document, so setting up your page should be one of the first things you do when putting together your document or project. | | 2. | Select the Paper Size and Orientation Select the size of paper you'll be printing on from the Paper Size drop-down menu. Among other things, this option defines how the margins and rulers behave in your application. Then select the Orientation you want, using the icons to choose between landscape and portrait configurations. 79. Configure Printer Options from Any Application  Many other options are available in the Page Setup dialog box; explore the various Settings pages to see what other levels of control you have over how your applications' pages are laid out. Click OK when you're done. | | 3. | Prepare to Print
When you're ready to print the document, select File, Print to bring up the Print dialog box, in which you can set any of several dozen printer-specific options for how the job should be printed.
| | 4. | Select the Printer
Select the printer you'll be using from the Printer drop-down list. Many of the other options on the page depend on which printer you select and what it's capable of, so make sure that you select the correct printer.
| | 5. | Set the Number of Pages and Copies
Select Copies & Pages from the selector menu in the middle of the dialog box, if it's not already selected. Specify how many copies of the document you want, as well as which pages to print; you can print all the pages or specify a range from one page number to another.
| | 6. | Set the Layout Options Select Layout from the selector menu in the middle of the Print dialog box. For multipage documents, you can have Mac OS X print more than one page worth of data on a single sheet. From the Pages per Sheet drop-down list, select the number of pages you want to print on a single sheet of paper. NOTE For quick proofs, you can print "four-up" (meaning four pages of data on a single sheet of paper), or from two to as many as 16 pages per sheet of paper. Use the visual Layout Direction icons to specify the order in which the pages should be printed. You can also separate the printed pages with a single or double outline using the Border drop-down list. A preview of the layout on the left shows you what the page output will look like. Explore the many other option pages using the selector menu; define the options that need to be changed from their default settings. | | 7. | Save the Printing Options As a Preset
After you've finished setting up your printing options, you might want to save them in a "preset" so that you can use them again in the future. Select Save As from the Presets drop-down list at the top of the Print dialog box; enter a name for the preset and click OK . You can then select this preset from the Presets drop-down list in future print jobs, or create other presets and switch easily between them.
| | 8. | Preview the Print Job
Click the Preview button to see what the final printed output will look like. The preview is generated in PDF format and displayed in the Preview application (which should come as no surprise).
| | 9. | Print the Document
Whether you're in Preview mode or still viewing the Print dialog box, you can click Cancel to dismiss the print job or click Print to send it directly to the printer.
| TIP Some applications, such as Mail and Microsoft Word, have a Print icon that appears in the toolbar (or that you can place there using the Customize Toolbar command, under the application's View menu). Click this icon to send a single copy of the document directly to the default printer.
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