Do you still print on Paper?

[DavidP]

Oh my goodness me with the print hardly dry on my previous posting I find the answer within 'AcrobateUsers.Com'. The answer given (within its own Forum to a-n-other) is as follows: "I believe you are trying to print the pdf from your physical printer. After opening the PDF go to the Print Dialog box. On the Print dialog Box (at) the bottom left there is a check box which says Print to file. Uncheck that check Box, you would (sic) be able to print from your physical printer"

As the advice is somewhat old (and not strictly relevant) I can say that it did not materialise quite as written but I suddenly twigged the problem from the words 'uncheck the print to file box'. I had not noticed a Destination box beneath the Save/Cancel, nor the words 'save to file' (default); nor the all important CHANGE button below. So I clicked on CHANGE and it offered numerous options: Save to: File (default); One note; nova PDF (which I believe is Word); Microsoft XPS writer; Fax and even a set up for a Google Cloud save option...and of course my Printer. I clicked on the printer option (to replace the default) and returned to the display page. Sure enough the printer had now become the destination and the word Save had been replaced by Print. Easy when you know how isn't it?

I had a similar problem a few weeks back and it had me stumped for a while, until I realised that my default printer had somewhow changed to either 'Microsoft XPS Document Writer' or 'Reckon PDF Printer' (I can't recall which now). Going into Control Panel and selecting a 'real ' printer soon fixed the problem, but I am mystified how I changed default printers in the first place. Perhaps a senior moment.....

 

[Norman]

If you ever delete a printer and add a new one or re-install a printer the default gets changed. If, when installing, you forget to tick the box "Make default printer" it can trip you up. As I have two printers on the network, whenever I print anything I usually make sure I go to printer options to be sure I've selected the correct printer for the job.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

OK Norman first, yes I have Office 2013 and up to date Word. I am aware that it will allow me to open PDF files. (And of course had I saved the PDF document, Word would be the ideal choice to open, view and presumably print off).

Actually no Word would be a REALLY bad choice to bludgen a poor PDF and try to force it open in Word. I doubt it would successfully survive the conversion. Adobe Acrobat Reader is of course the best program to open a PDF.

Then moving to Alexander yes I am working in a Browser in am email program. So to recap my problem. I buy something and receive an email order acknowledgment which in turn asks if I want to view the invoice? (It advises I will need to have a PDF reader and can download such if not). As I have Acrobat reader I click on the invoice and it duly opens as a PDF document.

I then click on the printer icon in the PDF document (occasionally this does not function but if so CTL+P never fails to work). Either way up will then pop my normal printer display box. But in place of the usual PRINT / CANCEL is SAVE / CANCEL. The first time this happened the SAVE bit did not register (I had never seen the option before in a print display box) so I was surprised when it asked me where I wanted it saved? I thought I had inadvertently made a mistake so cancelled out and returned to the print display, and sure enough the only option was to Save or cancel.

It has now happened on some 4 or 5 different occasions. If I elect to print it only offer to save!! Outside of a PDF document the print option performs as it always does on any of my PC's and duly prints at my WI-FI printer. I am sure PDF used to offer print but in the latest incarnation of Acrobat Reader that is now missing.

Now that my gander is up I am sure I will get to the bottom of the matter myself (I have already discovered someone Googling the same problem). But meantime if either of you or anyone has a solution kindly let me know. If I resolve the matter I will of course report back.

I strongly suspect that something else has registered it self as dealing with PDFs many programs do. It might even be Word is the culprit and is torturing the poor PDF files. What to do is to check the file associations - how you do this varies depending on what version of Windows you are running - Google to find out how to change file associations on your PC.

Ideally what you want to make sure is that you have the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader and that it is that program and nothing else that is handling PDF files.

DavidP also has a really good suggestion it could be that the print is going to a PDF printer and not to your regular printer.

 

[peter]

The very best program to open a PDF is Adobe Acrobat if you're lucky enough to have it. It has a Save As Word option which worked amazingly well when I needed it.

 

[Norman]

Actually no Word would be a REALLY bad choice to bludgen a poor PDF and try to force it open in Word. I doubt it would successfully survive the conversion. Adobe Acrobat Reader is of course the best program to open a PDF.

Actually Word in Office 365 opens PDFs perfectly. That's why I asked what version Bob was using. Acrobat Reader cannot edit PDF files.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Actually no Word would be a REALLY bad choice to bludgen a poor PDF and try to force it open in Word. I doubt it would successfully survive the conversion. Adobe Acrobat Reader is of course the best program to open a PDF.

Point taken on that and I doubt I would have used Word anyway. As the for remainder I think I resolved the matter as I later posted ; it was just that I had not spotted the 'print to file' default. Once changed to my own (Epson) printer everything worked well.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Actually Word in Office 365 opens PDFs perfectly. That's why I asked what version Bob was using. Acrobat Reader cannot edit PDF files.

Yes having now tried Word novaPDF and a brief PDF import I agree it does. I used to have Acrobat Writer (sometimes called Acrobat Standard combining both read and write) when working but no longer have same. Likely Word will cope with editing should I have any need for same.

The very best program to open a PDF is Adobe Acrobat if you're lucky enough to have it. It has a Save As Word option which worked amazingly well when I needed it.

Yes that Adobe Acrobat takes me back also but have long forgotten what the difference was between Acrobat Standard (Read and Write) as against Acrobat -or were they the same? I note you say you could save in Word format and wonder if that is now possible in nova PDF; import as PDF and save as Word?

 

[Norman]

Word doesn't need novaPDF. Word 2013 opens PDFs natively. link It can both open and save PDFs. I have tried it on invoices and can't see the difference after saving. MS do say the conversion works best on PDFs that are predominantly text based.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Word doesn't need novaPDF. Word 2013 opens PDFs natively. link It can both open and save PDFs. I have tried it on invoices and can't see the difference after saving. MS do say the conversion works best on PDFs that are predominantly text based.

Excellent link Norman and just shows since having Office 365 and using Word with little or no requirement to edit or convert to PDF (I just wanted to print out in PDF as per my posting) I had not fully grasped how either Word or its novaPDF option worked and it was basic Word I used to import a PDF document. I now see nova allows to convert a Word document to PDF. Whereas Word itself will open and save PDF's. Hopefully I have now grasped both concepts and will be able to recall as and when I ever have need for same.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Word doesn't need novaPDF. Word 2013 opens PDFs natively. link It can both open and save PDFs. I have tried it on invoices and can't see the difference after saving. MS do say the conversion works best on PDFs that are predominantly text based.

My experience has been with manuals with charts, tables, graphs etc and has been less than satisfactory. If they have implemented it in Word 2013, they will have updated it in Office 365 and no doubt I will notice they have cracked charts, tables and graphs when they launch Office 2016 in Sept/Oct.

 

[AdrienneQ]

Just opened a pdf with lots of photos in word 2013 and it worked like a dream.
Its amazing what you learn on this forum. Ta

 

[Gillian]

Word doesn't need novaPDF. Word 2013 opens PDFs natively. link It can both open and save PDFs. I have tried it on invoices and can't see the difference after saving. MS do say the conversion works best on PDFs that are predominantly text based.

Thank you so much for that link, Norman. It really works!! I've often wanted to edit PDFs but never realised it was so simple.

 

[Britjan]

I thought of the heading of this thread tonight as I grappled with looking at a Google map on the tiny screen of my phone and trying to judge the proximity of two places I might like to visit on a mini-break I am contemplating in August. When I suddenly lost my phone signal (and not having my laptop with me) I naturally headed for the box of maps I can never bring myself to throw out. I do cull it every few years so there was only the latest version of the province of Ontario map to pull out and unfold. There is something immensely satisfying about the print version of a map and a wave of nostalgia swept over me as I recalled tracing a route on an Ordnance Survey map of South West England with my finger when I was about six years old. I needed help with some of the names of the towns and villages we would pass through but it didn't take me long to learn the significance of the colour coding for A and B roads and the thin brown lines which were contours.
I wouldn't print out a trip map these days but the relevant parts of city maps are something I do print out when I travel.

 

[Gillian]

I still get immense pleasure from tracing the route with my finger on an old-fashioned paper map when being driven (N.B. not driving) in unknown places.

 

[DavidP]

I agree. I have just bought several Revised Second Series OS maps (c1903) of the area where my ancestors hail from. They are great for plotting where the various families came from and judging how the land looked after the advent of the railways, but before the motorways.

 

[peter]

I agree. I have just bought several Revised Second Series OS maps (c1903) of the area where my ancestors hail from. They are great for plotting where the various families came from and judging how the land looked after the advent of the railways, but before the motorways.

I don't want to put Ordnance Survey out of business, but many maps are available online at the National Library of Scotland website (yes, even for England & Wales).

 

[DavidP]

I know, but as Gillian said there is nothing like tracing the route on a piece of paper!. I also stick those narrow Post-it notes on the maps to highlight some of the smaller villages where my ancestors lived. I even got one map stuck on the wall which shows the ancestral heartland. I actually bought the Cassini maps through Stanfords as I found the OS web site very confusing to use.

 

[Tim]

I agree. I have just bought several Revised Second Series OS maps (c1903) of the area where my ancestors hail from. They are great for plotting where the various families came from and judging how the land looked after the advent of the railways, but before the motorways.

David, do you use FTAnalyzer? You can overlay different old maps and see where you ancestors lived in olden days. It's very good.

 

[Gillian]

I think David's point is the satisfaction he gets out of locating places on paper and not on a screen. It's a bit like the difference between reading a newspaper on printed paper or as a digital version, or reading a book with paper pages you can actually turn by hand or on kindle. The latter will no doubt bring me howls of protest.

 

[emjay]

Gillian, I read ebooks, but....I 'get lost' ! Where am I? I suppose it's that I can't just flip back to check/confirm a character or event etc. easily.