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send screen to printer ? use automator ?

i want to print what is on the screen.


closest i found was capture to clipboard.


? use automator ?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Dec 15, 2014 10:01 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 16, 2014 10:59 AM

Take a screen shot, open it in Preview, and print.


Screen shots

6 replies

Dec 17, 2014 3:01 PM in response to mri1397

MSDOS had a key to press to print what is on the screen.


on my mac, I am trying not to take a screen shot, open it in Preview, and print.


closest i found was capture to clipboard, open a program say MS Word, then paste it there, then control P to print it.


? how about using automator for this series of steps?


thank you

Dec 18, 2014 12:52 PM in response to mri1397

One way:


1. Create a new folder called "screenshots" in the Pictures folder.


2. Open Terminal.

a. In Terminal, copy/paste the command below and then hit return so that all screenshots are saved to the new folder:


defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/screenshots/


b. And copy/paste this next command and then hit return to make the save location change take effect:


killall SystemUIServer


3. Open Automator. Choose Folder Action from the templates.

a. Set the first action to receive files and folders from Pictures > screenshots.

b. Add one action: Print Finder Items.

c. Save as "print screenshots"

User uploaded file

4. Test by taking a screenshot (Cmd-Shift-3 if you want everything, or one of the other options described in the document Eric Root recommends). The screenshot will be saved to the screenshots folder; the Folder Action will be triggered as the new file comes into the folder; then the screenshot will be sent to the printer.

Dec 20, 2014 9:31 AM in response to mns579

i had called apple support and asked them how to do it.


they said they don't support automator


but your way worked !

it worked !

thank you !


as a side effect it creates a screenshot file on my desktop, which i delete.

do you know of a way to modify the automator file i just made to automatically delete that screenshot file from desk top after the printer has printed.

alan

Dec 20, 2014 10:13 AM in response to mri1397

If you followed the instructions above, the screenshots go only to that Pictures/screenshots folder (not to your Desktop). If you make a new screenshot, does it land on your Desktop or in Pictures/screenshots--or both?


In any event, to answer your question, here's a version of the Folder Action that continues to work on the screenshot--sending it to the printer, waiting 10 seconds (my networked printer takes a bit of time to accept the file, though yours may be quicker), then moving the file to the Trash.


No, Apple won't help you with Automator questions--and never has helped with questions about Automator, going back to its creation in OS X 10.4.

User uploaded file

send screen to printer ? use automator ?

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