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Printing

G

GEFF

Geff
I have a problem with Windows 7, or is it me? if I want to print a page from the internet, or a letter I get a box appear with "Print to File" heading and then it is asking for "Output File Name". I have not clue what to do, glad I have kept my old XP. Help.
 
When you click on Print, the Print dialog box should be displayed - where you would normally choose your printer.
Check the following:
  • That the Print to file option isn't ticked
  • That the printer you have selected is actually the printer that you have attached, and not an Acrobat printer or something that is expecting to generate a file.
If neither of those are the source of the problem, come back to me and we can check something else.
PS Has it always been doing this since you had W7 or has it just started today?
 
Hallo leslam, thank you for your message, sorry for the delay in replying, granddaughter needed help in Birmingham.
the Windows 7 has always been like this since I purchased it 18 months ago. The reason for not sorting sooner is that I still have my XP and I have been lazy.
Print to File is not ticked/the printer is attached/ the print dialog box does appear. Nothing happens when I put my reqirements in the print dialog box, do the same thing on the XP and it works although it is very slow. Hope you can sort it for me. Many thanks. Geff
 
I am sick of the windows 7 updates. You get used to something and then it all changes. (I had a fantastic scanner, a very expensive one as I do a bit of photography) I could never get it to work using Windows 7. (YES I did try to download software for it) I had to use an old computer of my sons in the end when I needed to scan something.
I now own a new printer scanner that is rubbish compared to my old one.
James
 
GEFF said:
I have a problem with Windows 7, or is it me?
Click to expand...
Hi Geff,
It would probably help if you said which printer you have. Someone might have the same printer using Windows 7 and can advise if they had problems etc.
I use Windows 7, Apple OS, and Linux so have had fun getting scanners, printers, etc to work but I usually find a way.
oldmohawk
 
I purchased a HP h8-1170uk computer using Windows 7 operating system 12 months ago (just ouside guarantee now) and have an all in one Epson Stylus SX445W printer/scanner and have not had any problems, both seem very compatable, which is just as well as I am not very PC wise. The colour printing is pretty slow but the printing is excellent so I am content. Eric
 
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Hi Eric , I seem to remember having this conversation before, I have never used compatable inks, a set of Epson cartridges for my SX100 cost almost as much as a new printer. I saw the new
printers in Tesco at £49.99 last year, and four inks were 39.99
They are good printers for photos, cheers Bernard ps.My pics are on Picasa3
 
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I recently purchased a 17.3" Sony VAIO Notebook(laptop). This is additional to my Hewlett Packard XP main computer which I have had for a few years.

The HP pc was a high spec. and came with a PSC - printer/scanner/copier unit when purchased so whilst not as up to date as the new Sony it is more than adequate for most of my computer needs. It just isn't that portable. :untroubled:

I tried to make it possible for the psc unit to operate with both computers. Windows 7 doesn't seem to agree. I don't intend to get another printer type unit - well, I don't do that much printing, scanning and copying - but, hopefully, I will fathom this out and will post any findings here.
 
Geff we will try to get your problem sorted - I have had similar problems in the past and will try to recall how I sorted it. Failing that Les will be able to answer the problem.

Just one comment this thread is specifically about of Geff being able to get his PC to work with his printer. It is not about using compatible inks or moving from one version of Windows to another.

As OM has said it will help if the details of the printer are supplied.
 
I swapped over from using Internet Explorer (IE) many years ago.
I use Mozilla Firefox, I find it much more user friendly, once you get used to it.
Thats just my opinion, there you go :fat: I would recommend it to anyone.
 
Isn't this a problem with the operating system rather than the browser Stephen?
 
Geff. This is a bit of a long shot as I've never seen this problem (although I have heard of it). Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers\. This folder should be empty (it's where the printing file is held until the printing is completed). If it isn't empty delete the files - they are usually in pairs with the extensions .SHD and .SPL. If you are printing to a printer which is connected to a different PC, do the same thing with C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Servers\'PC name'\. Make sure you only delete files, not folders. John
 
There seem to be two problems here. One has a problem because print seems to default to print to file. I've not seen that in Windows 7 without having some kind of pdf printer installed as default. The thing to do there is to look at the printers and scanners and make sure the default is an actual printer. On the other hand I'm not as used to Win7 as some.

The second problem is with using a printer/scanner/copier across a network with both Win7 and WinXP. This is an awkward one that needs the printer to be attached to the right pc because Win7 has problems with device sharing. The how to link I put in earlier should cover this. If nothing else, I think it's the same way as I dealt with the problem somewhere else a while back. Browsers are generally irrelevant to this sort of thing. I've had a lot of them crash too much of late anyway. Currently using Lunascape.
 
Finally have a 3G signal in a carpark in Welshpool! I can see that there are anumber if suggestions here now. I haven't read through them all on my phone , but my intial thought on reading Geff's reply was that it was a driver issue. I won't be back in 'normality' until Sun; perhaps it'll be solved before then :)
 
I run a 'mixed' network at home: one XP machine with and HP colour printer and a Brother laser attached and one Win 7 machine with a HP scanner/printer attached.
On my Win 7 PC, I can print to any of the printers that I have installed, so hopefully we should be able to sort you out :)

Things to consider:
Is the printer and W7 printer driver installed on your PC?
After you had your Windows 7 PC, did you install the printer on the PC? Check this as follows:
  1. Click the Start button (big icon, bottom left)
  2. Select Devices & printers to display a list of printers. Is your printer in the list? If not, you will need to use Add Printer and follow the instructions to connect to your printer.
Even if you have installed the printer to your PC, it is just possible that there has been a driver update, so it's worth going to the website of the printer manufacturer and downloading the latest driver for your printer. However, check the next section (below) first, because, if you don't have the correct driver, I think that it is more likely that printing would fail altogether.


Is the Default Printer set correctly?
As someone suggested above, it's possible that the default printer is set to Adobe printer; this would raise the Print to File dialog.
To check the setting of the default printer on your W7 computer, do the following:
  1. Click the Start button (big icon, bottom left)
  2. Select Devices & printers to display a list of printers. The default printers has a green 'tick' against it.
  3. If the incorrect printer is showing as the default, click the name of printer you want to be the default, click the right mouse button and from the pop-up menu, select Set as default printer. The green tick will then move to the printer name you selected.
  4. Close Devices & printers.
  5. To be on the safe side, restart your PC and do step 1 & 2 again to check that the correct printer is now showing as the default.
I hope that one of the above helps you sort this out. If not, please can you include the name of your printer in your reply? If it is very old. there is just an outside chance that it doesn't work with Windows 7
 
Many thanks Leslam, you have solved the problem. It was "Set as Default Printer" that put it right. I have printed your E.Mail which I will file for future Ref. When I first had the PC I did install the printer but obviously failed to do anything else. Sorry for the trouble I have caused. Once again many thanks.Geff
 
Glad that sorted the problem :)

You haven't been any trouble; now that the solution is on the forum, it might help someone else as well.
 
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