Print to PDF using Desktop Printer

Posted on November 27, 2007 by Adam Tow

Eric was asking if there was a way to print directly to a PDF without going through the Print dialog box. I knew that there wasn’t (currently) a way to do this in AppleScript. After some digging on Google, I think I found a good solution with the CUPS-PDF Package for Mac OS X. Now, I have a Desktop Printer icon on my Desktop, on which I can drag any file to create an instant PDF.

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3 Responses to Print to PDF using Desktop Printer

  1. Eric Cheng says:
    November 28, 2007 at 12:13 am

    Thanks for the tip, Adam! I have the same. Although, when I drag a document to the printer and it opens, it stalls at the Print dialog, requiring me to hit Return. No big deal, but I wish there were a way to force the dialog to accept itself…

  2. Martin Michel says:
    December 19, 2007 at 7:51 am

    Hi Adam,

    Some Mac OS X applications also allow to print documents via AppleScript without invoking the print dialog, examples are RagTime and Microsoft Word:

    tell app “RagTime 6″
    print layout 1 of document 1 without print dialog
    end tell

    tell app “Microsoft Word”
    do Visual Basic “ActiveDocument.PrintOut”
    end tell

    Combined with cups-pdf set as the default printer, this makes for a great solution for advanced PDF workflows (e.g. automated serial mailings with personalized PDF attachments).

    Just my 2 cents :)

    Best regards to California from frosty Germany!

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