Printing a Print to File file 3

[dedren]

I recently received an email of a report I was expecting. The extension on the file is .prt so I assume it is a document created when you use the 'Print to File' checkbox in the Print dialog box. Problem is I have no clue how to actually print or even open the file. I have tried Adobe, Word, Excel, IE, and best I get is a bunch of garbage characters on the screen. I have read that printer documents are supposed to be able to be printed to most printers, but I haven't a clue how. Could anyone tell me how to open/print a document with the .prt extension?

Thank you

 

[longhair]

dedren,
try opening with notebook or wordpad.
regards,
longhair

 

[BionicJohn]

You could try dragging the *.PRT onto a printer icon, or if it is a Postscript file onto an AdobePDF printer icon.

You may be able to "copy" it directly to your printer from the DOS prompt.

COPY path\filename.prt LPT1 /b

where LPT1 is the name of the printer port.

Liverpool: Capital of Culture 2008
Anfield: Capital of Football since 1892
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[vacunita]

Try opening a command prompt, and then using the copy command to send it to your printer's LPT port.

Start->run Command [enter]

then

copy path\to\file.prt LPTx

where x is the LPT port associated with your printer.

If you don't know it, check in your printers properties. Its usually LPT1, but it can change.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[dedren]

When I open it in notepad it is a convoluted mess of archaic symbols and invalid characters. Maybe someone can provide me instructions on the right way to use "Print to File", that might give me some clues as to what to do. I tried printing this page to a file, now I want to open/print the file that it made. So far this is what I have done:


1. (Menu)File>Print
2. Choose printer
3. Click checkbox for "Print to file"
4. Click "Print"
5 .(Dialog Box) I save it to My Documents and give it the name 'test2.prn'
6. Click "OK"


What do I do from here?

 

[cyoung]

Without knowing what printer driver was used in the creation of the file, you will most likely not be able to print this file.

If you only see garbage when you look at the file in notepad then the file was printed using a specific driver.

If you are able to determine what driver was used, then you will be able to print the file to either a physical printer or to another file by installing the print driver on your computer and then using the copy command at a command prompt window as explained above.

 

[dedren]

Thank you very much. I spent 2 hours doing searches on the net to little avail and you guys helped me very quickly. I will look into finding out what driver was used.

As a side question, is this Print to file option a poorly implemented service or does it have a different purpose. I think the accountant who made this file thought it was like printing to a PDF.

 

[BionicJohn]

I think the accountant who made this file thought it was like printing to a PDF.[/quote}
Opening it with Distiller (if you have it) will create the PDF or copying it to a PS printer (again if you have one) should produce a printed page.

Liverpool: Capital of Culture 2008
Anfield: Capital of Football since 1892
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[danbpc]

If the file is garbage when you attempt to print it I would do the following.


Ask the the source. Ask what they ment to do, the printer targeted, how it was created, if postscript the ppd.

If you can not do that, try making a copy of the file and change the extension to "ps" for postscript, and try distilling the file. If you have acrobat distiller, it should be a option as a right click in explorer. If it is a postscript file, that should work.

You should also be aware that if the file was emailed and some email system along the way used MIME to break up your packets, MIME will ruin a postcript file. It assumes everything is ASCII which postscript files are not. Not as much of a problem recently, because I think most email systems no longer use MIME. The solution is to ZIP the file before emailing.

You got nothing to loose if you fail. The file is not useful right now. Then ask for a new file