crv@lanl.gov (Chad R. Vizino) (07/21/90)
I am using a Mac II with system 6.0.2 and would like to know how to get a Postscript file from the LaserWriter dialog box instead of having the file sent to the printer. I have tried pressing 'command-F' while mousing down on the 'OK' button but this doesn't seem to work. Is this function specific to a certain application or am I doing the wrong thing? ----------- Chad Vizino
wiseman@tellabs.com (Jeff Wiseman) (07/22/90)
In article <57647@lanl.gov> crv@lanl.gov (Chad R. Vizino) writes: >I am using a Mac II with system 6.0.2 and would like to know how to get a >Postscript file from the LaserWriter dialog box instead of having the file >sent to the printer. I have tried pressing 'command-F' while mousing down >on the 'OK' button but this doesn't seem to work. Is this function specific >to a certain application or am I doing the wrong thing? Try the sequence in reverse. "Mouse down" and HOLD on the OK button and while HOLDING it there, press and HOLD the command-F. While holding the command-F, mouse UP (let go) from the OK button. STILL HOLDING the command-F keys, keep holding until the "sending to postscript file" (or whatever that dialog is...) appears. THEN you may let go. On a slower mac such as an SE, you can hit the OK and release it and then IMMEDIATELY hit the command-F and HOLD until the dialog box appears. If you are using applications that don't muck around a lot with the laser drivers (such as with Claris products, MacWrite II for example) you can get a utility called mypagesetup (something like that anyway) that you can use to expose a check box in the printer's dialog for setup to do this same thing. One last thing that sometimes throws people. I believe that this capability to generate a Postscript file actually comes from the laserwriter driver files. That means none of this will work unless you have selected the laserwriter driver from the chooser. Also, certain spooler programs, if active, can screw this procedure up. Hope this helps. -- Jeff Wiseman: ....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM
philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (07/23/90)
In article <57647@lanl.gov>, crv@lanl.gov (Chad R. Vizino) writes: > I am using a Mac II with system 6.0.2 and would like to know how to get a > Postscript file from the LaserWriter dialog box instead of having the file > sent to the printer. I have tried pressing 'command-F' while mousing down > on the 'OK' button but this doesn't seem to work. Is this function specific > to a certain application or am I doing the wrong thing? The most consistent problem I have with this is it doesn't work if background printing is on. If you are running in MultiFinder, check Chooser to make sure background printing is off and try again. Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
MUSJJH@latvax8.lat.oz (07/27/90)
In article <57647@lanl.gov>, crv@lanl.gov (Chad R. Vizino) writes: > I would like to know how to get a > Postscript file from the LaserWriter dialog box instead of having the file > sent to the printer. I have tried pressing 'command-F' while mousing down > on the 'OK' button but this doesn't seem to work. Is this function specific > to a certain application or am I doing the wrong thing? > > ----------- > Chad Vizino Her are a couple of solutions to your problem: 1) The Easy Way. The timing of when you press 'command-F' is crucial. If you miss hitting the keys at just the right moment the program will just print as normal. To beat this problem when you click on the 'OK' button in the print dialog hold the mouse button down, then depress 'command-F' and release the mouse button. Your disk drive should whirr for a few seconds while the postscript file is being generated and then the file will attempt to print as per normal, so if you dont want a hard-copy start hitting 'command-.' when the disk drive stops. 2) The More Elaborate Way If you are familiar with ResEdit you can edit the LaserWriter Driver so that a check-box will appear in the Print dialog allowing you to automatically specify that you want to create a postscript file on disk. Perform the following on a copy of the LaserWriter Driver: A) In ResEdit open the LaserWriter driver and select DITL B) Using the 'Open As' or 'Open Template' option select DITL ID= -8191 C) Find the item for Disk File with a Display rect of 0 0 0 0. Change the Display rect to 49 320 65 400. D) Save your changes and quit ResEdit. E) Rename the altered LaserWriter Driver (I call mine Postscript Generator) and place it in the system folder. When you want to create a Postscript file now all you have to do is: F) Select the altered driver via the Chooser menu. G) Go to Print the file as per normal. H) When the LaserWriter dialog box appears click in the check box marked 'Disk File' and then hit 'OK'. The resulting Postscript file will appear in your System Folder. The 'More Elaborate Method' will not work for some programs (Eg. Quark Xpress) which dont use the standard LaserWriter Dialog but instead have their own custom versions. In this case the first method should work. I hope these methods solve your problem. Jason Hellwege La Trobe Uni, Melbourne, Oz. musjjh@latvax8.lat.oz or from July 29th on..... musjjh@latlure.lat.oz (possibly) "Bring the little ones unto me.....and I will get a good price for them." - Dr. Fegg.