System 7.5, Version 7.5.3: About Desktop Printing

This article comprises the About Desktop Printing Document for System 7.5, Version 7.5.3.
About Desktop Printing

Your new software comes with Desktop PrintMonitor version 1.0.3. You use desktop printmonitor to create printer icons (or "desktop printers") on your Macintosh operating system (Mac OS) desktop. You can print a document by simply dragging it to a desktop printer icon. Desktop printers also give you more control over printing, including setting printing priorities and choosing specific times for printing.

Creating Desktop Printers

You Create Desktop Printers By Selecting A Printer In The Chooser. A Desktop Printer Icon Appears On Your Desktop When You Close The Chooser.

You Can Drag This Icon To Any Position You Want On Your Desktop. You Cannot Move It Off The Desktop.
If You Want, You Can Select Other Printers In The Chooser And Create Other Desktop Printers For Easy Access. You Must Close The Chooser Each Time To Create A Desktop Printer.

The Last Desktop Printer Created Becomes The Default Printer. Your Documents Will Automatically Be Printed On The Default Printer.

Printing With Desktop Printers

You Can Print Documents Within Your Applications As You Normally Do. You Can Also Print Documents Without Leaving The Finder, Using One Of The Two Methods Described Here. These Methods Are Particularly Efficient When You Have A Number Of Documents You Want To Print At Once.


The Computer Will Show You The Print Dialog Box So You Can Choose Printing Options. Make Your Choices, Then Click The Print Button.

After A Few Moments, The Document Starts To Print. If Background Printing Is Turned On, You Can Continue Working While The Document Is Printing.

Selecting A Default Printer

If You Have More Than One Printer Available, You Can Select Which You Want To Use. The Printer You Select Is Called The "default Printer." All Your Documents Will Be Printed On The Default Printer Until You Select A New One.

To Change The Default Printer, Use One Of These Three Methods:


Note: Switching Between Printers May Change How Much Information You Can Fit On A Page. It's Best To Choose A Printer Before You Spend Much Time Formatting The Document.

Working With Desktop Printer Icons

Desktop Printer Icons Change To Indicate Printing Status:


You Can Do The Following With Desktop Printer Icons:
Monitoring Printing

If You Are Using Background Printing, You Can Use The Desktop Printer Features To Monitor And Control The Documents That Are Waiting To Print. To Learn How To Turn Background Printing On And Off, See Your Printer Manual.

To Monitor The Printing Of Documents:

1) Double-click The Desktop Printer Icon You're Interested In.

A Window Opens Listing The Documents That Are Printing Or Waiting To Print.

Watching The Status Messages Can Be Helpful When Troubleshooting Printing Problems. When More Than One Job Is Waiting To Be Printed, A List Of Print Jobs Appears In The Waiting List, Showing The Order In Which They Will Be Printed (when Sorted By Print Time.)

2) Choose What You'd Like To Do.


Turning The Manual Feed Notification On Or Off

The Desktop PrintMonitor Is Set Up To Notify You About Manually Feeding Paper The Same Way Your PrintMonitor Was Set. For Example, If You Turned Off Notification For Manual Feeding In Your PrintMonitor, The Desktop PrintMonitor Will Also Have Manual Feed Notification Turned Off.

If You Want To Change How The Desktop PrintMonitor Notifies You About Manual Feeding, Follow This Procedure:


Turning Off Or Removing The Desktop Printing Software

Removing A Desktop Printer Icon

You Can Remove An Individual Desktop Printer Icon By Dragging It To The Trash. If You Have Only One Desktop Printer, You Can't Get Rid Of The Icon By Dragging It To The Trash. (The Icon Will Reappear If You Do.) To Get Rid Of The Desktop Printer, You Must First Select A Different Desktop Printer As The Default Printer And Then Drag The Desktop Printer Icon To The Trash. If You Don't Want To Use Desktop Printer Icons, See "Turning Off The Desktop PrintMonitor" Or "Removing Desktop Printing Software" For Information About How To Remove The Desktop Printer Software.

Turning Off The Desktop PrintMonitor

If You Don't Want To Use Desktop Printers, You Can Turn Off The Desktop PrintMonitor Using The Extensions Manager (available On Macintosh System 7.5, The Current Version Of The Mac OS).

To Turn Off The Desktop PrintMonitor:


Removing The Desktop Printing Software

The Desktop Printing Software Uses Both The Desktop PrintMonitor And The PrintMonitor Software. The Desktop PrintMonitor Requires 200-400K Bytes More Free System Memory In Addition To The Memory Required By The PrintMonitor. If You Don't Want To Use The Desktop Printing Software, You Can Remove It.

To Remove Desktop Printing Software:


Using Save Or Open With Desktop Printers

When You Choose Save Or Open In Your Application Programs, You Will See Your Desktop Printers Listed As If They Were Folders, But You Should Not Save Or Open Any Documents In Them. If You Do, You Will Not Be Able To Access Your Documents.

Having More Than Five Desktop Printers

If You Want To Have More Than Five Or Six Desktop Printers, You Must Increase The Desktop PrintMonitor Memory Allocation By 12K For Each Additional Desktop Printer You Want. To Do So, Select Its Icon (it's In The Extensions Folder Inside The System Folder), Choose Get Info, Type A Larger Number In The Preferred Size Box, Then Close The Get Info Window.

About Creating Duplicate Desktop Printer Icons

If You Use Different Versions Of The LaserWriter 8 Software And Print Using The Desktop PrintMonitor, You May Create Duplicate Desktop Printer Icons For The Same Printer. For Example, Say You Use The LaserWriter 8.3 Driver For Printing And Also Use The LaserWriter 8.2.2f Driver For Faxing. If You Select Your Printer In The Chooser Using The LaserWriter 8.3 Driver, And Select It Later Using The LaserWriter 8.2.2f Driver, Two Desktop Printer Icons Will Appear For That Printer. To Avoid Creating Confusing Duplicate Printer Icons, Primarily Use One Version Of Your Printer Software Driver, Or Rename The Icons With Distinguishing Names.

Published Date: Feb 18, 2012