One of the Pocket PC's limitations is that it doesn't have built-in printing capabilities. If you want to print out a Pocket Word document, or anything else, you have to first transfer it to your desktop PC and then use your desktop's printer to produce a hard copy. At least, this was the case before the release of PrintPocketCE from Field-Software Products (www.fieldsoftware.com).
PrintPocketCE v2.0 provides a partial solution to the problem and does it very nicely. This program adds the capability to print out Pocket Word (DOC), Rich Text (RTF) and plain text (TXT) documents, as well as Pocket Inbox e-mails, directly from a Pocket PC that is connected to a printer via serial, parallel or infrared ports.
Starting PrintPocketCE
The installer places the PrintPocketCE icon in the Programs folder. Tap on the icon and the main screen pops up, displaying a list of all the files capable of being printed (see Screen 1). You don't need to explore your system to locate your files. If the list is too long, you can narrow it down by switching to individual folders using the drop-down folder list located at the top of the screen.
Screen 1 (left): The main PrintPocketCE screen lists all printable documents. The Doc Options pop-up menu is also displayed.
Screen 2 (right): The Print screen lets you select from a wide variety of printer types, choose the port you wish to print from, and configure the document you're printing.
The menu bar at the bottom has the Doc Options menu and two other icons displayed. The two icons select the type of files to be listed (documents or e-mail). The Doc Options menu gives you some control over the printer output:
Resize Options lets you change the size of the document before printing, from as little as 50% to as much as 150% of the original. You cannot use this option on plain text documents.
Quick Print Flag lets you bypass the Print settings screen and use the currently saved settings. If you use the same printer most of time, this is the quick way to go.
Plain Text Flag lets you print Pocket Word or Rich Text documents without any text formatting.
Printing a document with PrintPocketCE
Select an item in the list and the Print screen pops up (see Screen 2). The program supports a large selection of printers, including many of the most popular brands (even the Seiko LabelWriter). I used the HP PCL setting to print to my Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 printer. The Port
setting can be adjusted for COM1, COM2, LPT1, and Infrared. My printer is
equipped with an infrared port, so I chose the Infrared option and beamed
documents directly to my printer. This was cool! Microsoft definitely needs to display this ability at future shows.
The Print screen also lets you select Port Speed (4800 up to 115200), Paper Size (Letter, A4, B5, Legal, and Custom), Custom Paper width and height, Orientation (Portrait or Landscape), and More Settings. I only tested the standard letter size.
The More Settings button pops up a screen that lets you make additional changes to the document settings. You can adjust the margins of a document, change the form feed settings (select Scroll to print to
continuous-feed paper), adjust the print density to a heavier or lighter setting (the latter is handy with thermal printers), and more.
A completely different Print screen pops up when the Plain Text flag is set or when printing any plain text (TXT) documents. The Plain Text Printing Options display lets you select the type and size of the font you want used as well as whether you want it in Bold or Italic.
Printing e-mail messages
Tap on the e-mail icon in PrintPocketCE's main screen and the Explorer-style document list changes to display a list of all the e-mail in your Inbox folder. Tap on one and the Print screen pops up, as described above. As with the documents list, you can easily switch to the other e-mail folders using the drop-down folder list.
The Email Options menu at the bottom of the list screen takes you to the Print Options screen. From here you can modify the Header Print Order as well as the font and type size for the header and the main text of the message.
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