What value is the cover page in print settings?

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Level 1

16 points

What value is the cover page in print settings?

On the Print settings, there is an option to print a cover page either before, or after a document. There are 6 types: Standard, Classified, Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, and Unclassified

However, it appears that the only editable field on these cover pages is a billing field.

As far as I, and my co-workers are concerned, these cover pages are totally useless if we cannot edit them in any way.

On the other hand, if there is a way to edit them, we would find these cover pages of great value.

So please tell me:

Is there a way to edit each of these cover page templates, and if so, please give instructions on how to do so
If there is no way to edit any of these cover page templates, can we instead replace them with cover pages we design? If so, what format would they need to be in, and where on the Mac are the cover pages located so we can put our own in place of the defaults.
If there is no way to edit any of these cover page templates, and we cannot replace them with our own, can you please explain what value these pages are? We cannot see any reason why we would use any of the templates as they are currently.

Thank you.

Zane B Stein

Mac Pro

Posted on Aug 26, 2019 10:59 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 27, 2019 6:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

CUPS started out as an independent commercial package, then Apple bought it. CUPS Terminology is slightly different from what Apple uses today. The Cover Page is referred to as a Banner Page in CUPS documentation such as this article entry:

https://www.cups.org/doc/spec-banner.html

A search shows that the five stock banner files are stored at:

/usr/share/CUPS/Banners

(copy and paste the above string into Finder > Go Menu > Go to Folder ...

... to get there directly.

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Answer 2

Aug 27, 2019 7:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I think what you will want to do create a new banner page (or modify a copy of an existing one without removing the original), place it in the folder I mentioned, restart CUPS or restart your Mac, and see if the new page is selectable, then see if it works.

I do not recommend changing the existing banner pages, as those ARE likely to be overwritten on software update or re-Install.

Are there enough keywords in that article for you to get what you want on a banner page?

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Answer 3

Aug 27, 2019 6:24 AM in response to zanestein

See if this previous discussion about Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) now the heart of MacOS spooling/printing -- has any value for you:

create custom printer cover page - Apple Community

In my opinion, anything you leave in the CUPS directories will NOT be over-written, as I use an old Apple Printer with a CUPS Driver, and installing it requires re-arranging things a bit. I find my changes are not removed.

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Answer 4

zanestein Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 27, 2019 3:41 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you very much! I was able to find the folder quite easily, and I see they covers are .dat files which should be easy to copy, edit the copy, and save with a new name. I will experiment with them.

The article was clear, spelling out the options available in the CUPS Banner File Format. And it appears I can store an image of my choice as a .png or .jpg to put on the cover.

I appreciate your assistance, I think I can utilize this to come up with a cover page that is of value.

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Answer 5

zanestein Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 28, 2019 7:32 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I made a copy of the Standard cover, called it Standard1, and edited that, putting this version in with the other cover sheets. So now there is a Standard and a Standard1; the original has not been modified.

When I go to print, however, the print dialogue does not recognize the Standard1 as another cover. Perhaps there is a table somewhere that knows the specific cover types that are in the folder, or perhaps there is a limit to the number of covers allowed?

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Answer 6

Aug 27, 2019 6:33 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I found another article that suggests there are some different FAX cover pages already provided when faxing. Perhaps those could be useful for producing what you want.

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Answer 7

Aug 27, 2019 5:40 PM in response to zanestein

Please post back if you get in a jam or have some success, or however it turns out.

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Answer 8

Aug 28, 2019 7:39 PM in response to zanestein

For most changes in CUPS you have to restart CUPS to have them be recognized. The simplest way to do that is to Restart your Mac.

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Answer 9

zanestein Author

Level 1

16 points

Aug 28, 2019 9:55 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

You are correct, it showed up after rebooting and printed fine. Now I have to fine tune the cover page, which will be a bit of a learning curve I think. But thank you for your help!

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What value is the cover page in print settings?

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