If you’re like most people, you probably print documents and email them using Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.2. But if you want to print PDF files and email them in Windows 8, there are a few things you need to know. First, the Print dialog box doesn’t appear when you try to print a document in Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.2. You’ll need to use the Print command instead. Second, if you want to email a document that’s been printed using Windows 8, you’ll need to use the Email command instead of the Print command. The Email dialog box will appear when you try to send an email with a document that’s been printed using either of those operating systems. Finally, if you want to print PDF files and email them in Windows 8 but don’t have a printer connected to your computer, there are two ways you can do it. You can use one of the built-in printers on your computer or you can use one of the third-party printers that come withWindows8.
The Modern UI apps bought along quite some change in Windows 8, and figuring out how to print a PDF file requires getting your robe and wizard hat. Here is how to do it.
And your quick tip of the day… if you don’t want to read further, you can always use the CTRL + P keyboard combination to print the current page or document in any application that supports printing.
How to Print From the Devices Charm
For this example, we are going to be printing a PDF file. Simply find the document you want to print on your PC and open it with the PDF reader that is included in Windows 8.
Now move your cursor to the bottom right hand corner of the screen or press the Win + C keyboard combination to bring up the Charms bar, then click on the Devices Charm.
Here you will see a list of print devices available for you to use. We will just be printing to an XPS file for now, but feel free to choose your own printer at this point.
The configuration screen that then follows is context sensitive, meaning it will display different options depending on what program you are trying to print from. This one, for the PDF Reader included in Windows 8, allows us to pick a range of pages to print, which probably wouldn’t be relevant when printing an email, for example. Nevertheless, you can now click the Print button.
Using the AppBar
Some apps, like Mail and Reader, support a slightly different method of printing as well. For this one, we are just going to print an email.
Simply select the email, then right-click anywhere on white space. This will bring up an AppBar along the bottom of your screen. Here we see another Print button, so click on it.
Then go ahead and select your printer.
You will notice that since we are now printing from the mail app, our printer has slightly different settings available for us to change, so once you are happy, click Print.
It’s worth noting that while both methods work in both the Reader and Mail app, and the second method is even quicker than the first, the Ctrl + P keyboard combination is universal, works in almost any app and is quicker than both methods detailed above.
