When I do a “Print to file” on my Canon printer, where does the resulting file go and how do I later print it?

Thanks Dan. It is not a PostScript file because I looked into it. It's got a bunch of XML at the top. Also, the "Save as" dialog box did not indicate the destination directory. And I searched My Documents and similar folders and did not find it.

OK. You must have Vista. It's an XPS format. Print to file selecting the XPS viewer at the top of the window. On my computer, it dumps the file into the folder with your name on it. Usually that directory is on your Desktop as an icon. Make sure you add the .xps extension to it. Doubleclick on the file and it's suppose to open the XPS Viewer software where you can view the document and print it out. However, on my computer, clicking on the file brings up Google Chrome which won't open it. But try it on your computer and see if it brings up the XPS Document Viewer.

Nope, I have XP as mentioned in my original question. Double-clicking on the file document.xps brings up my browser, which chokes on it. But still, it's good to know it's a .xps file since now I've got something I can grab on.

OK. I guess I got confused. In XP when you click PRINT, a Windows Printer Windows open. You check the box Print to File and click Print. Another window opens where it asks you what you want to name the file, and it saves it with a .PM extension. Next to that box is an explorer box that allows you to choose a directory to save it in. Mine defaults to the Desktop. You can then download a program called Print File that should be able to print the file at a later time. http://www.lerup.com/printfile/ Another option is to get a program like CutePDF which will convert whatever you print out as a PDF file. As a PDF file you can view it with Adobe Reader and print it out as well. So now you have two options. http://www.cutepdf.com/

Thanks, Dan. In my case, this: "and it saves it with a .PM extension. Next to that box is an explorer box that allows you to choose a directory to save it in." is not what happens. But I do think .xps is the correct extension since my system recognizes that, but not .pm. But the "Print File" sounds promising; I will pursue that. I use CutePDF all the time and love it, but that doesn't do the job in this case. The saved PDF does not respect the scale factor of 86% that is required for this document to fit into two pages just right. However, I'm going to experiment to see if I can find a scale factor that does give me the effect that 86% gives when I print to paper. I'd love to do this with PDF since that's so much more standard.

That works! By changing the print-to-paper scale factor of 86% to a print-to-PDF scale factor of 89%, the resulting PDF made with CutePDF prints perfectly -- so now I don't have to worry about the troublesome print-to-file method. Thanks for your help.