Chapter 13: Printing files

Table of contents

Chapter 13

Printing files

To print a file, drop its icon on the Printer icon.

The file is printed using the default printer. If you drop multiple files on the Printer icon, a dialog box appears for each file. You need to click on the OK button for each one.

If you drop an icon representing a directory onto the Printer icon, a listing of the files in that directory is printed.

Printing from within some clients is unique. For information on printing, see:

In some cases, you will see a file selection screen, from which you can choose the file that you want to print. For information on using this screen, see ``Selecting files or folders''.

See also:

Selecting files or folders

A file selection window displays when you need to choose a file, folder, or attachment.

The directory pathname shown in the ``Filter'' field determines which files are displayed in the ``Files'' field.

To change the files displayed, select a path from the list in the ``Directories'' field. Alternatively, click in the ``Filter'' field, type a new pathname, and click on the Filter button. You can expand or limit the files shown by using an asterisk (*) wildcard character at the end of the pathname. For example, typing /usr/ralph/* would list all the files in the ralph directory, while typing /usr/ralph/plop* would list only the files in the ralph directory that begin with the letters "plop."

To select a file, click on its name in the ``Files'' field or edit the path in the ``Selection'' field, and click on OK.

Changing printer setup

To access the Print Setup program from the Printer icon:

To change a default printer, click on the down arrow to display a list of the printers available to your system. Select a printer from the list. If any of the Print Setup options are dimmed, they are unavailable for that printer.

To select or deselect banner (cover) printing with your print job, toggle the Banner button.

To change other print command options, enter them in the ``Print Command'' field.

See also:

Displaying printer status

To display the status of the printer associated with the Printer icon on the Desktop, select Printer Status from the Job menu in the Print Jobs window.

The Printer Status window displays the printer name, whether it is accepting or rejecting local or remote jobs and whether it is enabled or disabled. For example: 

   scheduler is running
   printer ps now printing ps-459. enabled since Tue Mar 23 12:08:12 1994. available.
   ps accepting requests since Tue Mar 23 10:51:26 1994

Canceling print jobs

To cancel a print job, you must know its request-ID (a number that is assigned to each request by the print program). You also must be either root or the owner of the print request. The request-ID is displayed on the screen when you send a job to the printer. You can also look at the request-IDs for all current print jobs by double-clicking on the Printer icon or entering the lpstat command in a UNIX window.

Once you know the request number, you can cancel the print job by opening a UNIX window and, at the prompt, entering:

cancel request-ID

See also:

Using the lp command

The UNIX system lp command sends print jobs to a printer. Open a UNIX window and enter:

lp filename

After you send a request to print a file, you see:

request id is printername-request id number (1 file)

You can use the request identification number (known as the request-ID) to cancel your print job.

For more information,see:

Printing from a UNIX window

Double-click on the UNIX icon to open a UNIX window. At the prompt, enter:

lp filename

This command sends the file called filename to the default printer. The request-ID appears on your screen.

See also: