Print without a printer?
There are situations when you need to print documents but you have no printer attached to your computer. Or maybe you want to see how a document would look in printed form. Or maybe you just want to familiarize yourself working with a printer.
Well, there is a solution for this problem. The solution is installing a virtual printer. A virtual printer is a specialized piece of software implemented as a printer driver, but not connected to a physical printer. This approach is used in many applications that have to do with the conversion of documents to other formats and sending fax messages. The virtual printer will not really print your documents, but convert it into PDF files.
Using virtual printer you may also convert Microsoft Office or OpenOffice documents into PDF files or even insert all your photos into a PDF album.
There are many virtual printers on the market. You can easily find virtual printers using a Google search. Some of these virtual printers require additional software to be installed. I personally like CutePDF writer (because it's relatively simple and does not require additional software to work), so I will show you how to use this one.
Download CutePDF Writer and install it on your drive. Please NOTE: for your peace of mind, uncheck the "I would like to install... PC Tools... " box.
After installation is done, you must edit your new "printer" settings. To do this, click Start->Printers and Faxes. CutePDF will be there. Right click on it and choose Properties. You'll be able to edit all the settings, including paper settings, exactly how you would do with a real printer.