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Automating the Generic / Text Only Printer Driver

I need to print to a text file in WinXP. The Generic Text Only printer driver works great, but it always asks for a file name. I'd like it to either create some new file with an automatically generated name or append to a single file.

Or maybe there is other software out there? I tried miraplacid, but just couldn't get it to work.

I also saw this solution, but I don't have the time to program steps 2 or 3
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21142139/Capture-Printer-output-and-convert-to-ASCII-text-file.html?query=printer+"generic/text+only"+prompt&clearTAFilter=true

SOLUTION

hdhondt

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spathiphylum

ASKER

ok. how would i do the VB script?

hdhondt

You've got me there - that's way outside my expertise. You could ask the experts in the Programming TA.

Ask a moderator to move your question. If you do need automatic file name creation, or appending, then my answer is not what you want, but it may point a programmer in the right direction.

hdhondt

Or you can create a 20 point "pointer" question in the Programming TA, pointing to the url of this one ( https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22041005/Automating-the-Generic-Text-Only-Printer-Driver.html ).

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

thoffman

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spathiphylum

ASKER

oh that sounds like a good idea. i will try that next week

hdhondt

You're right, thoffman, that could do the trick without any fancy programming.

spathiphylum

ASKER

well actually i couldn't get that to work -- i used foldmonkey but it doesn't grab/rename the file quick enough before the second one gets printed on multi-page documents, they always get overwritten by the last page

thoffman

What application are you using? A multi-page document should show up as a single job, not multiple jobs.

spathiphylum

ASKER

yeah, you would think, but this application prints out each page individually

hdhondt

That does not sound like a Windows application. Is this an in-house app? In that case you may be able to change it so it a creates a different file each time.

spathiphylum

ASKER

it's a weird third-party application. we don't have any control over the source code

hdhondt

You can try this application:

http://www.printdistributor.com/

It lets you print to file with file names set by some simple rules, which can include username, date, etc. Even a unique serial number can be added, so it should have no problems with pages generated one after the other. It's available for 30 day trial, and the price seems reasonable: $149

Note that I have not tried this...

hdhondt

Hi spathiphylum

Any luck with Print Distributor?

spathiphylum

ASKER

No. Those programs handle the rules fine, but don't duplicate the Generic / Text Only Printer functionality. They have a "Print to File" option, but this just puts out a bunch of binary junk.

Here's what I ended up doing:

1. Setting up FoldMonkey to move the files automatically to a different directory
2. Print to the Generic / Text Only printer driver, and when prompted for a file name, just type "1", "2" for the next page, and so on

It's not so bad because usually by the time it's ready to print the second page, the first one has already been moved / renamed by FoldMonkey so I keep my fingers on the 1 and 2 keys. Still ugly, but I guess there's not really a good solution