Microsoft KB Archive/42245

Switching Bin Selections for Mixed Paper Feed Printing

PSS ID Number: Q42245 Article last modified on 11-02-1994

4.00 5.00

MS-DOS

= SUMMARY =

If the printer you are using has dual paper bins and the Print Options “paper feed:” is set to Mixed, the normal procedure is for the printer to pull the first sheet of paper from Bin 1 and any remaining sheets sheets from Bin 2. To switch this procedure so the printer will pull the first sheet of paper from Bin 2 and the remaining sheets from Bin 1, you must modify the printer driver you are using.

To modify an existing printer driver, use the MAKEPRD utility provided on the Thesaurus disk (5.25-inch version) or the Program/Thesaurus disk (3.5-inch version).

= MORE INFORMATION =

To modify the printer driver, perform the following steps:

  Copy MAKEPRD.EXE to the directory where your printer driver is located.   At the DOS prompt, enter the following command, substituting in the name of the printer driver you want to modify. The text filename can be any filename you want to use: MAKEPRD /T FILENAME.PRD TEXTFILE.DOC MAKEPRD will convert the binary printer driver into ASCII text format. You can then load the ASCII text document into Word.   Load the text file created with MAKEPRD into Word. Use the Search command to search for the text string “byte:38”.   The cursor is now located in the Printer Control Sequence Description (PCSD) section of the printer driver file. Bytes 38 and 46 are the locations for Bin1 begin and Bin2 begin, respectively. To switch bin selection for mixed paper feed, swap the printer control codes at these byte locations. The following is an example: Before After —— —– byte:38 mod:8 “[l1H” byte:38 mod:8 “^[&l4H” byte:42 mod:0 byte:42 mod:0 byte:46 mod:8 “^[&l4H” byte:46 mod:8 “[l1H”   After you have made this modification to the printer driver, save the modified file as a text-only or unformatted file. Quit Word.   At the DOS prompt, invoke MAKEPRD to convert the modified text file back into a binary PRD file by entering the following command. To prevent MAKEPRD from overwriting the original PRD file, enter a new name for the PRD file that will be created. The syntax for this conversion process is as follows: MAKEPRD /P NEWFILE.PRD FILENAME.TXT 

You may now start Word and specify the new printer driver in the Print Options “printer:” field. When you use this printer driver and you specify Mixed in the “paper feed:” field in Print Options, sheet 1 is pulled from Bin 2 and successive sheets are pulled from Bin 1. If you want sheet 1 to be pulled from Bin 1 and successive sheets to be pulled from Bin 2, you can specify the original unmodified printer driver in the Print Options “printer:” field.

Please note that when using the modified printer driver, a paper feed selection of Bin 1 pulls paper from Bin 2 and a paper feed selection of Bin 2 pulls paper from Bin 1. This is due to the modification made to the printer driver.

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