Printing a Document

The simplest way to print a document is to find its icon in an Explorer window (or on the desktop), right-click it, and select Print from the shortcut menu. Windows opens the document in its default application and sends it to the printer using the default settings of that application. You have a short time in which to click a Cancel button while the document is being sent to the printer. (If you miss this opportunity, you can still cancel the job from the Printer Control window.) This technique works for some file types (such as those used by Microsoft Office), but not all (see "Pausing or Canceling Print Jobs" later in the chapter).

If Print does not appear on the file's shortcut menu, or if you want to make some choices about how the document is printed, open the document and issue the Print command from within the document's application. (Typically File Print works, or you may find a Print icon on a toolbar.) Depending on the application, you may be able to see a preview of the printed document before giving the Print command. You can do this in Word or Internet Explorer, for example, by selecting File Print Preview.

Choosing Printing Options

After you give the File Print command, the Print dialog box appears. Which options this dialog box presents depends on the application and on the properties of your printer, so your Print dialog box may not look exactly like the one shown in Figure 15-4. Some of the choices you may be offered include:

• Printer name The default printer is listed, but a drop-down list allows you to choose any of the printers whose icons are in the Printers folder.

• Pages range You can print the entire document, specific pages, or a range of pages.

• Copies The dialog box in Figure 15-4 contains a Collate check box. If the box is checked, copies of the entire document are printed one by one. Otherwise, all the copies of a single page are printed before moving to the next page.

• Print quality Low-quality printing is faster and uses less ink or toner.

• Black-and-white or color You can choose to print documents in color or as black and white (if your printer supports color printing).

• Orientation Portrait orientation is longer than it is wide, while landscape orientation is wider than it is long.

• Paper tray If your printer has more than one paper tray, you can choose which to use.

• Order of pages The default is to print page one first, but you may print in reverse order so that the document comes out properly ordered in the printer tray. You may also be able to choose to print only even or odd pages, which is handy if you are doing two-sided printing.

Figure 15-4: The Print dialog box

When you have made your choices, click OK to send the document to the printer.

Printing to a File

When Windows prints a document, it first converts it into a form that the printer can understand. You can decide to capture this printer-ready form of the document in a file (and not send it to a physical printer) so that you can print it later or transport it via e-mail or a CD/DVD disc to a printer not connected to your computer. This is called printing to a file. You can do this in three ways:

• From the Print dialog box

• By changing the properties of an existing printer

• By creating a new printer icon

If you are printing only a single document to a file, and will want to print subsequent documents directly to paper, issue the Print command from within the document's application, and look for a Print To File check box in the Print dialog box. (Figure 15-4 has one, but yours may be in a different place or may be absent entirely. If you can't find it, you can still print to a file by changing the printer properties.) Make whatever other choices you want in the Print dialog box, and then click OK. A Print To File dialog box appears to let you choose what to call the file and where to save it. Click OK to begin producing the file.

If you are temporarily disconnected from your printer and want to print a series of documents to files, you may find it more convenient to change the printer properties so that documents sent to that printer go to a file automatically. To do this, find your printer's icon in the Printers folder, right-click it, and select Properties. When the Properties dialog box appears, look for the tab on which the printer port is set. (In Figure 15-3 you would choose the Ports tab, but your printer's Properties dialog box may be different.) Choose File from the list of possible ports. Make a note of the port that the printer was connected to before you changed, so that you can change back.

If you frequently print to a file, create a new printer icon and choose File as its port. Follow the instructions for installing a non-Plug and Play printer (see "Adding a Printer Without Plug and Play" earlier in the chapter).