Must-Have Utility: FinePrint
Filed under Reviews, Software
This is a utility that I can't live without. It is called FinePrint. FinePrint is a "virtual printer." You setup FinePrint as your default printer and then FinePrint will send the documents to your real printer.
Probably the best reason to use FinePrint is you get a print preview before you print. Some applications have a print preview option, but most don't. With FinePrint, you *always* get a print preview. The print preview can save a lot of wasted paper by showing you if a document is going to fit on a page or if it is going to print too much or too little information.
Double-Sided printing! FinePrint will turn *any* printer into a double sided printer. If your printer doesn't come with support for double-sided printing, FinePrint will print one side and then ask you to flip the pages and reinsert them into the printer to get printing on both sides.
Print multiple pages on a single sheet. FinePrint has options for 1, 2, 4, and 8 pages on a single printed sheet. Add double-sided printing and you can turn 16 pages into a single sheet of paper.
A trial version is available for free that prints a small banner on each page. FinePrint costs $49.95. I've used this for about 3 years and depend on it. Highly recommended.
Comments (3)
My favorite printer tool is Primo PDF. When I worked on a web site for some lawyers, they needed to see artwork proposals, and couldn't deal with JPGs. So I had to print everything as a PDF and send it that way. It made life easier to not have to use a separate PDF conversion program. (Don't ask why JPG was such an issue. I'd only start crying). Its a good deal for the money (free).
Posted by Kelvin Hickman | August 13, 2006 5:28 PM
Posted on August 13, 2006 17:28
I wonder when all those features started being integrated into the printer driver? Dell (Lexmark) inkjets have had N-Up and manual duplexing instructions for the last three years, and Lexmark may have had them before. Not sure about HP.
Posted by Steve's Cat | August 13, 2006 10:55 PM
Posted on August 13, 2006 22:55
The HP driver has the multiple pages on a single page and the opposite: one page becomes multiple (for posters). It also has a print preview, although it isn't nearly as nice as FinePrint's GUI or features.
The HP driver doesn't let you combine multiple printings into a single output so that you can save pages. It also doesn't let you rearrange how multiple pages are laid out (across or down).
Posted by David Lenihan | August 13, 2006 11:09 PM
Posted on August 13, 2006 23:09