Windows 10 May 2019 Update: The Missing Manual

Chapter 13. Printing, Fonts & PDFs

Technologists got pretty excited about “the paperless office” in the 1980s, but the PC explosion had exactly the opposite effect. Thanks to the proliferation of inexpensive, high-quality printers, the world generates far more paper than ever. Fortunately, there’s not much to printing from Windows 10.

And since they seem like vaguely printing-related subjects, this chapter also covers Windows’ font technologies and one of the best features in Windows 10: the ability to turn any document into a PDF document with one click. OK, two.

Installing a Printer

A printer is a peripheral device—something outside the PC—and as such, it won’t work without a piece of driver software explaining the new hardware to Windows. In general, getting this driver installed is a simple process. It’s described in more detail in Chapter 14.

The good news, though, is that Windows comes with the drivers for thousands of printers, of all different brands, ready to be installed. Read on.

USB Printers

If the technology gods are smiling, here’s the entire set of instructions for installing a typical inkjet USB printer:

1. Connect the printer to the computer; turn it on.

   A notification appears (Figure 13-1, top), and that’s it. You’re ready to print. No driver operations, no setup. Next time you print something, you’ll see the printer’s name in the Print dialog box.

The backup plan

In certain situations, the printer doesn’t “just work” when you plug it in. Maybe it’s wireless. ...