Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Changing a Printer's Properties

When you add a printer, the wizard adds an icon for it in the Devices and Printers window, and it's ready to go. At that point, you can start using it, or you can adjust its preferences and properties to suit your taste.

Each printer driver several sets of preference and properties dialogs, each with enough settings to choke a horse.

Different printers have different features, and your printer's driver will dictate the particular set of options that will be available. Because of the variations possible, the following sections describe only the most general and common options. (In other words, your fancy new printer may have options we've never even heard of.)

As I mentioned, there are several sets of printer properties and preferences, each of which serves a different purpose:

• Printing Preferences-These are the default settings that each application will start with when you use the application's Print function. These include paper size, page orientation, and paper source. Although many applications have a Print Setup command that lets you make changes for an individual document, each application starts with the selections made in the printer's Printing Preferences.
  Preferences are per-user settings. Each computer user can set his or her own printing preferences.
• Printer Properties-These are settings that apply to the printer itself, most of which tell Windows how to communicate with the printer, what capabilities and optional features it has, and so on. Printer properties also include settings that determine the initial printing preferences for each user.
• Print Server Properties-These are settings that apply to all printers used by the computer. They include paper size and form definitions.

The three sets of printer settings are described in the next sections.