Why did my printer start saving everything as a PDF?

NICEVILLE, Fla. — In this week’s edition of It’s Geek to Me, Jeff Werner explains why a printer may suddenly begin saving documents as PDF files instead of printing, thanks a longtime reader for supporting the column, and shares a patriotic reflection on America’s 250th birthday.

Digital advertisement promoting Eglin Federal Credit Union Mastercard rates starting at 7.9% APR.

Niceville.com Community Partner

QUESTION
Spouse Peripheral from Bluewater Bay asks
Recently, I have noticed (the last couple of weeks) that every time I want to print something (anything), I have to save it, then print it, then go back and delete it. What is going on?

ANSWER
Jeff Werner responds:

If you don’t recognize the name, this question was asked of me by my own dear wife.

As written, it didn’t make much sense to me, since I don’t have any similar issues and we share the same LAN and printer. Fortunately for her, I’m as convenient as a shout of “Help! I need my Geek!”

So, I questioned her about her issue, and I discovered that she means that this problem happens whenever she is trying to print something from her browser. Usually, it’s an email attachment, but it could be almost anything.

I asked her to show me the problem as it happened, and I stood behind her and watched. She pulled up an email, selected “Print” and said, “See? It’s not showing the printer.”

She was right, of course. It wasn’t showing the printer because somehow the “Printer” dropdown had gotten changed from our shared printer to “Microsoft Print to PDF”. She didn’t notice that and didn’t know to change it back.

All I had to do was click the drop-down and change it to our shared printer, and away it went.

“My hero!”

Yeah, right.

Wide digital banner advertisement for Eglin Federal Credit Union Mastercard rates starting at 7.9% APR.

Niceville.com Community Partner

QUESTION
Morris F. from Navarre asks:

I understand you are running low on questions that fuel the column. But I think a lot of people read your advice and learn from it without having a particular issue. If you can keep it up, I think you are a positive in our lives.

ANSWER
Jeff Werner responds:

Thanks for the pick-me-up, Morris. Even now, just a few weeks shy of the column’s 20th anniversary, it’s nice to hear a reader express how much they value the column and how it helps them.

However, “running low” doesn’t really describe the current state of my question queue. Ever since the local papers here in the Florida Panhandle stopped publishing me, reader submissions have gone from 5 to 8 per week to about 1 per month.

The column has always been a public service for me, something I don’t get paid for, but which I’ve enjoyed doing because it directly helped people.

It used to be that the hardest part of putting out a column was choosing which questions to answer. Those days appear to be over.

Dreaming up a topic, then providing 800 to 1000 words of content, is just more work than I’m able to deal with every week. I rely heavily on reader submissions to keep the column running. I don’t mind doing an occasional non-question column, but I can’t see myself doing that every week.

Niceville.com Community Partner

Happy Birthday, America:
By the time you read this, Independence Day will have come and gone for this year. I trust that you, as a reader of It’s Geek To Me, and thus being among the smartest and most attractive people around, fully appreciate the significance of our nation’s 250th birthday.

I know politics often stands in the way of our nation’s citizenry coming to full agreement on our country’s role in the world, but in this Geek’s opinion, the existence of the USA has been a driving force for good for 250 years now.

There have been plenty of downright evil leaders and just plain bad situations that have been brought down because America chose not to sit idly by and let it happen. That is American Exceptionalism.

We owe a lot to those people of great vision who defied the odds 250 years ago and broke free of tyrannical, despotic kingship to chart a new course based in liberty and freedom.