Printing Away From Home?

January 22, 2006 12:19 AM

Now that I have a laptop, I'd like to be able to study away from home. The only problem is I print a lot of my documents to read hard copies. Is there a program out there (free, cheap or otherwise) that would allow me to press "print" on the road, save my print list and then when I plug into my printer, print it all out at once? If I try with the normal printing spooler, I keep getting error messages.

I know I could save all the files to a folder and then print them later, but sometimes I'm printing upwards of 40 articles at a time, and it would be far more convenient to have a program that could just put my print jobs 'on hold' until I tell it to send it to the printer. Has anybody dealt with a situation like this before?

posted by gilsonal to technology (15 comments total)

Assuming you're using Windows XP or 2000, you can just right click on a printer, select "Pause Print", and then "Resume Print" when you're connected. That'll give you the functionality you want.
posted by KirTakat at 12:35 AM on January 22, 2006

you can print to pdf using a free pdf995 program

or you can print remotely to your printer through a wifi connection from on the road!
posted by Izzmeister at 1:07 AM on January 22, 2006

Not sure, but perhaps you could give fineprint a spin.
basically it does several things that might suit your needs.
1. it overtakes your printing driver so when you press print you see the preview window and you can save printing jobs for later in the original format (not converting to anything).
2. it can print up to 8 pages on a single sheet of paper - very good if you just want to have a hard copy for your self and don't want to carry a bundle of pages.
3. can delete unwanted specific pages or graphics before printing.

At 45$ its not cheap, but if you don't mind seeing their footnote on every page you can use it unregistered.
It made my life much more simple.
posted by sierra13 at 1:44 AM on January 22, 2006

On Windows, I use a combination of Ghostscript and RedMon to generate PDFs that can be printed at a later time.

The setup is a little clunky, but essentially, you set up RedMon to intercept jobs sent to a virtual printer. This triggers a Save As dialog box into which you can put a file name, and then the job is sent to GhostScript which generates a PDF in the specified file.

I guess there are more user friendly versions of this process available, but that's what I've always used. And its totally free. Some nag-ware products watermark the output until you register.

If you are on Mac OS X, the solution is even easier. All print jobs can be saved as PDF without any additional software.
posted by hwestiii at 5:13 AM on January 22, 2006

Oops. looks like I should read the whole post before commenting.
posted by hwestiii at 5:13 AM on January 22, 2006

Just a quick note on what I do... I have DSL at home with a firewall. My laser printer is networked, so I simply opened port 9100 to that IP address (HP Jetdirect). I use a dns service for free (no-ip.com) and set up a printer to print to that IP name.

When I'm somewhere else on the Internet, I just print to that printer, and when I get home the printouts are there waiting for me.
posted by thilmony at 6:30 AM on January 22, 2006

I always just chose "Print to File" and then later printed that. Maybe that's deprecated in the current versions of Windows.
posted by odinsdream at 8:19 AM on January 22, 2006

On a Mac, run Printer Setup Utility, from the utility folder in your applications. Double click on the name of your printer and a control center will open, allowing you to stop the printing cue. Print all of your documents (they will be held in the print cue.) When you get home, connect your printer, and click resume printing in the same window where you stopped printing.
posted by leafwoman at 9:23 AM on January 22, 2006

Assuming Windows: setup a print to file queue that is a clone of your real queue and share out the actual queue. You can then issue the command "COPY *.plt \\yourcomputer\sharename" in the directory you select when you print to file.

To setup a print to file queue: setup a queue normally but select FILE: when prompted for port.

When I do this for plotting I create a batch file in the directory where print files are stored by the queue that issues the above command and then deletes all *.plt

A further advantage of this method is if you have a print job that you have to print all the time, say a blank shopping list or fax cover sheet, you can just copy that job to the queue whenever you need it without openning the source document.

PS: there isn't anything magical about the .plt extension, you can give your print files any name when you save the print to file job.
posted by Mitheral at 9:34 AM on January 22, 2006

Do you have microsoft office? Sometimes when I'm not near a printer I print all my documents to the "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer" which creates a file of the document you're trying to print and saves it to your computer. It's like an image of what your printing. When I get home i just print from the file and it works fine.
posted by deeman at 10:13 AM on January 22, 2006

I'd leave a computer on at home, connected to a printer, and share that printer (require login, of course). Then your documents will be available as soon as you walk in the door.
posted by devilsbrigade at 10:36 AM on January 22, 2006

Assuming Windows XP: Go into your Printers control panel, right-click your printer, and choose the "Use Printer Offline" option. (The description of this feature is: "Allows printing to the selected printers when not physically connected.") Print to your heart's content, and when you get back home, right-click and choose "Use Printer Online." Everything you queued up will then print.

There. Exactly what you wanted, with no awkward work-arounds or third party software.
posted by CrayDrygu at 3:37 PM on January 22, 2006

Oh, and also, without opening up your printer to the internet, which I would consider a Bad Thing. When connected to an untrusted network, never leave a computer more open than it needs to be.
posted by CrayDrygu at 3:41 PM on January 22, 2006

I guess that's one of those "only 1% of users will ever use this" features. Thanks for the info CrayDrygu.
posted by Mitheral at 4:03 PM on January 22, 2006

Actually, it's used a lot more in corporate settings. If you have a printer that needs some quick maintenance, you put it in Offline mode on the print server, do your work, return it to Online mode, and everyone's stuff still prints without any error messages.

There's a whole lot of features like that in Windows XP, and unfortunately, most people who aren't an MCP will ever discover them, because they aren't all very intuitive.
posted by CrayDrygu at 4:16 PM on January 22, 2006