When I print to a file it will generate a PRN File.If I want to view the PRN file as a normal text what is the viewer to use

Any viewer that will view text files, like Wordpad, Notepad, etc

Hi,

I think you can't be able to view PRN files with any viewer. PRN file contains not the text but the commands needed by printer, so if you open it in a viewer you will see just garbage.

Good luck, Igor M

PRN files like from Excell sure can not be seen from any viewer!! But is there a WYPIWYS viewer? What you print is what you see.

Ensure that you're using a PostScript printer driver, then print to file. The file can then be viewed with a PostScript viewer such as GSView

Is there a way to view a non-postscript .prn
file. When i say 'view' i mean how it will
look when printed.
Could be handy to se the first page of a 100
page .prn file, without having to print it
and then stop the printing, resetting the
printer and all that. There must be a utility
that makes that pos

I, too, am searching the Web for a way to print (you cannot view) .prn files. According to one source, you can do it in dos by typing:
COPY filename.prn LPT1 /B
then press enter.
I haven't tried it yet and am still looking for a way to do it windows.

I had the same problem when I wanted to save the system resources displayed by the System/Device Manager in the control panel.

You can do the following in this type of situation:

(1) Install a Generic/Text only printer by clicking on Add Printer in the Printers folder
(2) When you print to a file, select the Generic/Text only printer

The resulting prn file will contain text only, which you can view with Notepad, Word, etc.

I am also in same process of trying to find a solution for that. I was unable to view the .prn file but could print it from the dos prompt by simply typing "print filename" and then enter.
In case you hit upon a solution, please let me know.
Thank You

response number 4 works!!
Thank you.

Epson printers come with a CD of sample images to show off their printers. These samples are in a .prn format. Perhaps if the same software were used on other renamed .prn files, it will show them too?
PS software was written by O2 Interactive LTD

I have followed instructions on how to print prn files to the letter

namely copy XXX lpt1/b etc etc and whilst the ms dos prompt window shows that 1 file has been copied, it is never sent to the printer. Can anyone shed light on this please thanks...

I have been trying to find a solution to this problem for a long time. I used the suggestion posted by Mark (response number 7) and it worked great.

I find a site with a prn file and I want to download it I printed it into a file and like you all told I can't read it(I did not try with the generic text printer but I clicked that I want to send it to an e-mail address and then it changed (in my sendingform) automaticly into a pdf file what I can read with acrobat reader, so it must be possible to change it easy in a pdf format. Can somebody explain me how to change the format in another way.

printing PRN files under DOS works great with following command:

print /b filename.prn prn

/b stands for binary mode, needed for printing graphics. please note that you canīt print any PRN file! the PRN file must have been generated for YOUR specific printer.

some PRN files can be viewed in generic text editors cause they donīt contain printer commands. RPN files for more sofisticated printers include lots of printer stuff, so you will mostly see garbage.

all this is very good, but i still havenīt found a way to print these files in windows! anyone a suggestion?

Try for a windows .PRN printintg utility.

That should read try,
www.gallicrow.co.uk
for a windows printing utility.

try
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/
articles/q158/0/81.asp

It worked on a prn file created with the copier utility used with Umax scanners. Actually good quality for a scanned image.
Text files should be no problem

My question is how to view a *.prn file? I used text editor software to open a *.prn file. I found the *.prn contains which printer driver is used to generate this *.prn file. So there should be a software which can decode the *.prn file, call printer driver and display the image on the monitor. This viewer will be very useful to display graphic file so that people could evaluate the iamge on the monitor before sending the job to the printer.

We are trying to find a method of viewing our prn files to be sent to an outside printing company prior to being sent to insure that the output to them is the same as what we generate on our in house printers. Of particular concern is insuring that the placement of graphics and pagination are correct so that they correspond to the TOC and other tables.

SO, the question is: How do I view a PRN file with all of the formatting, etc in place?

point set match see response # 17

To truly view PRN files (aka PCL files), you need some sort of PCL viewer.

The two that I have found useful are:

1. SwiftView (http://www.swiftview.com)
30-day trial version. displays WYSIWYP (what you see is what you'll print).

2. FormView (http://www.pcltools.com/formview.htm)
kind of WYSIWYP, not as sharp a display as SwiftView. This one converts to PDF, but the trial version restricts the number of pages you can view or convert.

Hope this helps.

Re. Response #14
I just use a DOS batch file to COPY file to LPT1
The batch file reads:
"copy %1 lpt1"
I then have this on my desktop and just drag and drop the PRN file onto it and it prints fine.
My question is Why do PRN file vary in size between operating systems (e.g. Win 95 176Kb - NT 4.0 84Kb) but not ALL 95 are bigger, some are dratically smaller than NT?

Viewing a *.prn file is a complicated subject. However I will do my best to explain it.

Skip to (SOLUTION) if you want to skip the tech talk.

There are two major type of *.prn files. there are files made by postscript printers, and files made by pcl printers.

To view files made by a postscript printer I also recommend GSView (see Response Number 4) not only is it free, but I does a very nice job.

However, most printers print using the PCL format. The latest and greatest advances in the PCL world is PCL 5 which uses HP-G/2 and Intellifont. These advances make the *.prn file much smaller than the files made by previous PCL languages. This speeds the time it take to copy the printing file from your computer to you printer and takes up less RAM.

The real trick is finding a good viewer. Response Number 21. Gave the best answer so far. However FormView Suck. It doesn't show tables, the fonts are all messed up. It's just bad. Swiftview is okay. It doesn't recognize Italic fonts. And some of the features could be better. If you use it to on legal size paper it still prints it on letter. It reminds me of what happen when you fax a legal size paper on a fax machine. It also has a few more minor problems.

(SOLUTION)
PageViewer. You can download a demo from www.lincolnco.com. It works like a charm. The best one I've seen and believe me I've seen a lot of them (Over 35). You can only download a demo version. However, you can use the Demo to view the files and then use the Print option copy pcl file port not bmp image to print. You can print without doing this, but DEMO is written on all your forms. The software can be purchased for just under $200.00. But I think that is a little steep. Now for the bad news, this will not work with all printers. It will only work with PCL printer. Which was a language invented by HP. Most printer will do it. But some just won't. Sorry.

HELLO!!, I have been trying to PRINT on DOS with PCL, I have a HP DeskJet 670c Series, and the graphics of my program (Iīm software development), my user guide not bring the commands about pcl, another printer brings the code to use pcl, so Iīd like to know how I can program it.
thank and I hpe your answer

For certain, the answer 7 is the better, and practical. Very good.

Arturo

My problem is when file printing an excel spreadsheet, certain of the characters appear as the "#" symbols. I assume this where formulas or special number types appear.

I followed one suggestion which was to first copy and paste special w/values only to eliminate any formulas... No luck here either.

Even though the formulas have been removed from the cells and the values appear, a file print produces ### instead of the actual value of the cell.

Is it possible that this is a font/character mapping issue? Does anyone know a fix for this problem? It's crucial that I file print the doc to capture all headers, footers, etc., prior to the next phase of my project.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I wanted to view a video. When I was trying to print the file (and then NOT print it but save the data), the data was saved as a *.prn file.
Now I would really like to VIEW that file (for example include it in a powerpoint-presentation).

Who can help me?

I found a great little program to print .prn files in windows without needing the command prompt

http://hem1.passagen.se/ptlerup/prfile.html

good luck

I need to capture exactly what is being sent to the printer. I use to use prn2file but it does not work under Windows 2000 or NT 4.0. How can I see the escape codes etc.?

Response #7 works in Windows 2000. Thanks

I second that.. option 4 works beautifully!!

Cheers
Gaurav

I'm using a postscript driver and GSview, but when I open the file in GSview, no data is there. The pc I'm doing this from is using citrix/terminal server. Is there anything else I need to do. When I use the same drivers on my pc, it works beautifully.