[Dan Frakes]

Schneb said:

Is there any way to set its settings to have a low-filesize output?

Unfortunately, no. For some crazy reason, in Leopard Apple removed the ability to apply ColorSync filters when printing. You used to be able to enable the Reduce File Size filter for any printer, so you could save a preset that made smaller PDF files.

[Morri]

This actually provides a capability that didn't exist before. When you open a PDF file in Adobe Reader, and you want to save that as a file, you can't use the "Save as PDF" option in the print dialog. You can only do "File>Save a Copy..." from Reader. But Adobe Reader's print dialog provides features you might want that aren't available in the "Save a Copy" menu item, like creating a document with only odd pages, multiple pages per sheet, etc. Preview also doesn't have these options. But to Adobe Reader, CUPS-PDF looks like just another printer, so you can use all these features.

[sporobolus]

"I have a Receipts folder that contains a PDF receipt for every online purchase from the past few years.... My only beef with this system is that I wish it were more efficient. "

Dan, CUPS-PDF is nifty, but for years there's been a much simpler way to save PDF receipts:

simply place an alias of a folder (or aliases of several folders) in ~/Library/PDF Services; it will appear as an item in the PDF drop down menu; rename the alias if you'd like it to appear differently in the menu; then in the Print dialog, simply select the folder name from the drop down and a PDF is automatically saved into the folder in question

i've been saving my web receipts like this for longer than i can remember; i would check the CUPS-PDF approach carefully for it's duplicate filename behavior -- with the folder alias method, items with the same name as an item already in the destination folder are automatically assigned a unique serialized file name, so you can count on never losing a receipt by overwriting it accidentally

[macfreak13]

Where is the configuration file? I have tried spotlight searching "cups" and "cups-pdf" with no results. I would like to change the save destination, but I don't know where the config file is.

[sporobolus]

for some reason the comment system ate the title of my post, in which i mentioned this feature has been available since Mac OS X 10.2

... and by the way the PDFs saved with the PDF Services method retain clickable links

[holywarrior007]

I installed this CUSP-PDF package and it has screwed my printing system on my MacBook. I was using CUSP based HP printers before. After installing this package, my printers are gone. When I try to add a new printer, I see them in list but I can't select the driver for them. Selecting driver option is disabled, which is very strange. Please help me with this.

[don5521]

That's a great suggestion but how do I get to the file to see it after saving it.

[apfel]

sporobolus said:

Quote

simply place an alias of a folder (or aliases of several folders) in ~/Library/PDF Services; it will appear as an item in the PDF drop down menu; rename the alias if you'd like it to appear differently in the menu; then in the Print dialog, simply select the folder name from the drop down and a PDF is automatically saved into the folder in question

this doesn't work here ... 10.5.6. something else required? logout/in?

also, the only PDF Services folder is at the system level, so if this worked, the destination folder would show up on all users' print to pdf dialog?

[chum]

Excellent question. I've also been trying to understand the directions on how to change the default Save location folder. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[sporobolus]

@apfel:

i mainly use 10.4.11, but i just tested on a 10.5.6 machine and it worked fine there; you can put folder aliases in /Library or ~/Library; if the PDF Services folder doesn't already exist, just create it

there's lots more info about this feature on the web, just look up "PDF Services" on macosxhints.com, for example

you will also see methods using AppleScripts in the PDF Services folder, but be forewarned that these scripts are prone to overwriting files when they have the same name; the folder alias approach is simpler and doesn't overwrite, which is particularly important saving web receipts, which often have the same name as a previous receipt

[CVBruce]

I didn't see the instructions for how to change the default save location, but it appears to be in the cups-pdf.conf file which is located in the /etc/cups folder. The only problem I see is that this would effect all users. If you want to use a different location, you could of course update the cups-pdf.conf file.

Also, if you have a folder that you want the output to go to, you could create an alias of that folder, move the alias to your desktop, and rename it cups-pdf.

[silverj]

Sporobolus, Thanks very much for this tip about alias folders in PDF Services. You have saved me several steps.

This does indeed work in 10.5.6, and with as many folders as you choose (if for instance you want to keep hobby-related receipts separate from work-related).

And the alias folders don't use any extra space. Who has space to spare?

Great tip.

[HandyMac]

{quote}And the alias folders don't use any extra space. Who has space to spare?{quote}
Actually, aliases in 10.5 can use astonishing amounts of space, apparently because they store copies of the original's icons. Even the alias of a generic folder is over 500K. Thus I prefer symbolic links, which are only 4K in size, though more fragile than Mac OS aliases (i.e. if the original moves, the symlink dies, though an alias will usually survive). For easy creation of symlinks, I use the SymbolicLinker contextual menu plugin.

[apfel]

sporobolus said:

>you can put folder aliases in /Library or ~/Library; if the PDF Services folder doesn't already exist, just create it

Quote

something's weird on my system? I just looked at /Library/PDF Services, and the aliases were no longer there!

For what it's worth, I copied /Library/PDF Services to ~/Library/PDF Services, and, unsurprisingly, all the default services appeared twice in the pull-down. Deleted them from ~/Library/PDF Services.

Next, re-created the aliases, and dragged (copied) them to ~/Library/PDF Services, others to /Library/PDF Services, and all is as you say. Originally, I had command-dragged (moved) the aliases. But now, moving seems to work, also.

So thanks for a good tip; this will save a lot of time, and I don't have to bother with CUPS.

As to "aliases take a lot of room" - it's relative. 0.5MB on my first hard drive, 20MB, was significant, 2.5%. The largest drive in my MacPro is 1.5TB, so 0.5MB is 0.0000333333333% ... .