Print to PDF with no physical printer

Question

Print to PDF with no physical printer

We use Save as PDF in the Print menu all the time, because we don't have a printer at home. We make a PDF then print it out somewhere else when we have a chance. Now here's the problem. My wife's new MBA has never had any actual printers installed on it. When she hits Cmd-P to get a print menu for its PDF options, it tells her there are no printers installed and she can't get a menu. How can I "install" a printer and circumvent this message when we don't have one?

Save as PDF is such a great feature. You'd think they'd realize people without physical printers might want to use it.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Feb 23, 2011 8:41 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 23, 2011 9:02 PM in response to red_menace

Thanks! My first instinct was to ask, "Why use this when OS X has the built-in Save as PDF feature?" The website answered that:
"Why use this rather than a simple "Save as PDF" in the print dialog? Pressing return is faster. Batch-print through the writer to convert documents to PDF. Common save location for all generated PDFs."

I do think that OS X should have a more elegant solution though--there should be a way to tell it, "I know I don't have a printer, just let me use the Print menu!" After all, this is the company that first did away with floppies and is now doing away with the optical drive....

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Answer 2

red_menace

Level 6

17,066 points

Feb 23, 2011 8:52 PM in response to ScottWGregory

You might take a look at CUPS-PDF, which installs like a printer but prints straight to a file.

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Answer 3

Feb 23, 2011 10:16 PM in response to ScottWGregory

You can make a dummy printer by adding a printer using IPP protocol and just giving a made-up address. But you are right: there should be some simpler way to do this.

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Answer 4

Feb 24, 2011 4:07 AM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

Thanks, I will try that when she gets home with the computer. But won't OS X try to connect to the IP printer to check its configuration? Hope it doesn't hang....

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