PrintFile is a freeware MS Windows utility program that will enable you to print files fast and easily. The program recognizes plain text, PostScript, Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and binary formats. Using this program can save you a lot of paper and thereby also saving valuable natural resources.
Below is a picture of PrintFile's main window
Selection of which files to print can be made by the normal Windows file selection dialog, or by Drag and Drop operations with one or several files. The latter facilitates batch printing of files.
PrintFile can also act as a print spooler, watching a specified directory for files. Whenever a file appears in that directory it will automatically be printed.
When printing text files PrintFile makes a configurable page layout of the text contents. Several logical pages can be placed on one page of physical paper (referred to as n-up printing). There are also several other configurable options controlling the layout. Text files can be printed on any printer that has a Windows printer driver. Text copied to the clipboard can also be printed in the same manner as text files. PrintFile can also do user configurable Pretty Printing of text files. Keywords and comments can be highlighted using different font styles and colors. This function is primarily intended for source code files.
Non text files are sent files directly to a Windows printer. In this case the program can be seen as a Windows replacement for the DOS command "copy/b filename LPTx" . However, unlike the DOS command, PrintFile works well with network printers that do not have a connection to any LPTx. Although this function is mainly intended for printing PostScript files, it could be used just as well for any file created by the "Print to File" option available for most Windows printer drivers. Such a print file can for instance be created on a PC without a printer and then be moved to another PC that has a printer, and there be sent to the printer using PrintFile.
The text file printing function is also something that can be used to enable old DOS program to print to USB printers that only works with a Windows printer driver.
PostScript files can normally only be printed on PostScript printers. If a conversion program like Ghostscript is available however, PrintFile can automatically make a conversion before sending the file to the printer. The program can also print Encapsulated PostScript Files (EPS). These files can normally only be inserted into documents and not be printed directly. It is also possible to control the positioning and layout of the EPS picture on the printer page. Both EPS files with and without preview can be handled. Other PostScript features are the possibility to select an arbitrary range of pages for the printout when printing multiple page PostScript files and to do n-up printing. By using a properly configured Windows PostScript driver connected to a file, this function can be used to get n-up printing from almost every Windows program.
PostScript and EPS files created on Macintosh and UNIX systems can also be printed by PrintFile.
PrintFile also works well with command line (DOS) programs. It has several command line options and can read data from command line standard input, e.g. a command line pipe.
More detailed information about the program is available in the help file attached to the installation package.
PrintFile runs on all versions of Microsoft Windows; from Windows 3.1 to Windows 8. Different installation packages are used for 16-bit (Windows 3.x) and 32-bit (Windows 95 and later) operating systems. The 32-bit version can be used on 64-bit Windows versions as well.
Current version number of PrintFile is 2.1.6, dated December 13, 2007. This version is a very small update of version 2.1.5
New and updated functions:
The program is delivered as a ZIP archive file. Click on one of the available archives below in order to download it from this site.
| Archive name | Description | Size |
| prf32-216.zip | Version 2.1.6. For any version from Windows 95 to Windows 7 | 138 KB |
| prf16-216.zip | Same as above but for Windows 3.1x | 121 KB |
| prf-215.zip | Previous version (2.1.5), combined package | 198 KB |
In order to install PrintFile you first have to unzip the contents of the PrintFile zip archive file into a temporary directory. Then run the setup program. When the installation has finished you can remove the temporary directory. If you are using WinZip you can do all this just by pressing the install button in that program.
The installation will prompt you for a directory to install PrintFile into and if startup menu item should be created. The dialog also contains a list of file types that can be associated with PrintFile. Double clicking on a file of that type in the Windows Explorer will automatically launch PrintFile
In some versions of Windows you may experience problems with the PrintFile help file. The window may look like this:
This is due to Windows blocking certain file types originating from the Internet by default for security reasons. The remedy for this is to unblock the help file.
Locate "prfile.chm" in the PrintFile installation directory in the Windows Explorer, right click and select properties. The following dialog will be shown:
Select Unblock and then Ok. The help file contents should now be visible.