Eric was asking if there was a way to print directly to a PDF without going through the Print dialog box. I knew that there wasn’t (currently) a way to do this in AppleScript. After some digging on Google, I think I found a good solution with the CUPS-PDF Package for Mac OS X. Now, I have a Desktop Printer icon on my Desktop, on which I can drag any file to create an instant PDF.
Thanks for the tip, Adam! I have the same. Although, when I drag a document to the printer and it opens, it stalls at the Print dialog, requiring me to hit Return. No big deal, but I wish there were a way to force the dialog to accept itself…
Hi Adam,
Some Mac OS X applications also allow to print documents via AppleScript without invoking the print dialog, examples are RagTime and Microsoft Word:
tell app “RagTime 6”
print layout 1 of document 1 without print dialog
end tell
tell app “Microsoft Word”
do Visual Basic “ActiveDocument.PrintOut”
end tell
Combined with cups-pdf set as the default printer, this makes for a great solution for advanced PDF workflows (e.g. automated serial mailings with personalized PDF attachments).
Just my 2 cents :)
Best regards to California from frosty Germany!