How can I setup automated drop folder (hot folder) printing?

October 16, 2007 9:43 AM

How can I setup automated drop folder (hot folder) printing? I would like a folder to be watched, and when a PDF gets copied to this folder it gets printed right away.

I am running Vista x64 and our legacy office copier/printer doesn't have drivers available for this operating system. I have both PCs and an Apple Xserve available to setup hot folders on, so software for either system is an option, as is applescript.

Ideally I would like a series of folders setup for different print options. So if I drop a PDF into folder 1 it prints letter size, drop a PDF into folder 2 and it prints ledger.

I've seen graphic RIP systems with this functionality, but this is a bit overkill and expensive for my basic needs. Does anyone have software or script suggestions for such a task?

posted by monsta coty scott to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

One of the prime difficulties with automating something like this is figuring out how to tell the automated process when a file is finished being copied. It's easy to see a new file has started being written out, but knowing how long to wait until it's ready for printing ends up being an annoying polling operation, ala check size now, wait 5s, check size again, still changing? wait more, etc.
posted by nomisxid at 11:32 AM on October 16, 2007

I found this which might be worth a look on the PDF store for $99. I know nothing about it, but it does say "PDF Multi Print for silent printing of PDF files (no pop-up or dialog boxes). Graphical Interface, Hot Folder Mode (watched folders)"
posted by worker_bee at 1:25 PM on October 16, 2007

I have implemented, I'm pretty sure, the PDF Multi Print application above (or something very like it). We had two separate "printers" set up for the same printer, one defaulted to color and one defaulted b&W, and each folder was marked appropriately so our users used the right one. That's what you would do for letter/ledger.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:05 PM on October 16, 2007