Kids today don’t realize how much “printing” to files your computer does.
Comment on Save as PDF
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
You’re not lying. You are printing it as a PDF. Your electronic buddy doesn’t see a difference.
TheRealKuni@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
mech@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Just tell them it’s like the Share button on their phone.
BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Heh, we were doing some cosigner banking and I asks my one adult kid to send me the bank documents needed (they were pdf files on their computer). They sent me low res screen shots. Lol
rainwall@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
This is as much linguistic tomfoolery for humans as it is a con for computers.
I dont know the history, but the most likely case is some microsoft engineer implemented the “print as pdf” option to get around an adobe restriction in the far past, and now we have this weird convention where you “print” to only 1 filetype to “save” it.
someguy3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Someone else pointed out that printing to pdf was a universal solution no matter the program. Instead of each program having to make their own export option.
rainwall@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Thats not 100% correct. This didnt use to be an option, nor is pdf the default printing “format” used by printers. Thats more PCL.
someguy3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What? I’m saying it was added because it was independent of the program. You could print to pdf from anywhere be it word, or notepad, or tax software, or a browser, or whatever shitty proprietary program you had. Instead of waiting for each of those programs to add an export as PDF option. I have no idea what you misinterpreted that into.
anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Postscript (not the P in PDF, even though I think it should have been) is how Portable Document Format is made.
PostScript’s original purpose was for formatting documents to print with laser printers, but to also interpret font hinting and display features for lower resolution printing. But it required printers to process them before rasterization.
It was so good at this that it made sense to also use it for the much lower resolution of computer screens once computers were powerful enough to do the rasterization themselves. Hence the PDF replacing most .PS (PostScript) files, unless you were a graphic design student in the late 90s.
ThunderQueen@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Oh boy, here i go learning again
tomiant@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
When you are saving it as a .txt file, you are printing it as a .txt file, the computer sees no difference.
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
Not how printing as pdf works but I appreciate the effort
tomiant@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I’m sorry but I am the head of printing operations at work and I can assure you, that is exactly how computers work.
mech@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Can we get a second opinion from the head of saving operations?
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
Oh! Apologies sir. I didn’t realize you were the one casting the printer summoning seances from that side of the veil. You know if you ever need support you can draw out the four runes on the back of the book.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I haven’t looked at the printer driver interface on various different operating systens, but I imagine programmatically you don’t write ACSII text directly to it, the way you would with file io calls. Though on Linux you have “lpr” where you can pipe text directly to the command. It’s possible a printer could natively support this, but clearly it would be a different interface to render anything more complex than ascii text.
Zwiebel@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Err you are handing the file off to a pdf converter programm that acts like a print driver. So yes you are lying to your text programm
lime@feddit.nu 2 weeks ago
pdf is a container format for code parsed by printers. there are no lies, just a virtual printer.
oftenawake@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
It is all imaginary numbers inside virtual computers which don’t really exist. Pdf is an intermediary portal to the physical realm, but beware! For it is one created by the dark forces of the human psyche. Not all is as it first may seem, it may unexpectedly take possession of the user! (Cue ominous music!)
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Beyond that, also, what’s so hard about clicking on “Export As… > PDF” which is literally in the file menu on LibreOffice at the very least. I don’t know about MS Office, but I would assume it’s the same.
Zwiebel@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
It can produce different results than print to pdf unfortunately
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Could you expand on that, I’m curious because export to PDF has always worked flawlessly for me.
Zwiebel@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
I was helping someone and both export and print to pdf messed up different minute aspects of the design/layout. I don’t remember what exactly it was tho
WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Print to pdf generally loses the text and just makes it an image though. Which can balloon size and prevent ctrl+f without running ocr on it and saving an additional layer with more mistakes than the original.
BanMe@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Are you sure you don’t have “print as image” enabled there? It should keep it as a layered PDF, not rasterizing.
Railcar8095@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m going to assume you’re on the younger side. That’s a relatively recent thing. For many many years we had to install PDF printers.
Also the PDF printer is generic, but the export has to implemented for each application individually.
The_v@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
CutePDF was the best.
cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp
Started out with it in XP.
BagOfHeavyStones@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Still using it today whenever I need to flatten a PDF with my scanned signature.
Railcar8095@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Just reading that name made my articulations ache.
It’s great is still active though.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I’m in my forties. The post we are talking about was made in 2026. Priyanka Lakhara definitely looks younger than me, didn’t even make her Twitter account until January 2024.
What does age have to do with a post made… four days ago by someone who is either late twenties to mid-thirties at most?
Railcar8095@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The age comment is not about the age of the posts, but about how you seem so surprised about printing as PDF rather than export as PDF.
Using a virtual printer was the norm until relatively recently, and even then it’s still the most effective because anything than can print can use that to generate a PDF.
That’s how I still create PDFs honestly.
Didn’t want you offend, sorry if came out wrong
Korne127@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well, but we’re not just talking about Office. What about browsers, document viewers, etc.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
My browser saves PDFs fine?
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
How about notepad. Or paint.
unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 2 weeks ago
oop probably meant from websites