Reader Email: Alternatives to Printing

I recently received an email asking about what alternatives there are to printing.  The purpose of this post is to show you some of the alternatives that I use.  After all, printing every single email and multiple page PDF files can cause a lot of unwanted clutter to build up after time.




If you are using Windows XP or newer, you already have a free option built into your operating system by way of the Microsoft XPS Document Writer.  You will need to download the XPS Viewer from Microsoft if you are using Windows XP (Windows Vista & 7 have it built in as well).  Simply click print in the program you are using, and select the Microsoft XPS Document Writer.  It will then 'print to a file' by creating a .XPS file and save it where you tell it to during the creation process.





Another option is to use a 'PDF Printer'.  There are many floating around on the web.  Personally, I have tried several different offerings (all free) and liked Bullzip's PDF Printer the most.  It seemed to work best for me.  It works much like the Microsoft XPS Document Writer.  Simply click 'Print' in the program you are working in, and select 'Bullzip PDF Printer' from the Print Dialog Box and the Bullzip PDF Printer dialog box will launch, allowing you to name the file, choose it's destination on your hard drive, set PDF tags for the document, add a watermark, append to an existing PDF file, and even set passwords.

Bullzip PDF Printer is free for personal use and up to 10 business users.  To download:
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php


So, if you are tired of letting impulse-print jobs clutter up your work area.  Or even if you're looking to conserve a little bit of ink in your home office printer, than both of these options are great solutions.  There are other tools out there available to achieve the same end result, but these are the two that have worked best for me.

Happy Surfing!