Need A Virtual Printer Driver For A Bizarre Edge Case

Software
1

Okay…I realize this sounds like a stupid question, but bear with me…

I have some software that has text-based content in it. It allows that content to be exported, with a 100-page limit. I would like to be able to text-to-speech and listen to that content when I’m out and about doing things. But some of that content is longer than 100 pages.

The software is apparently fine with the 100 pages being pretty much any size though. A4, A1, whatever.

And once it’s defined the size of the export based on 100 pages @ the paper size, it’s happy to give me a nice RTF file that I can dump into a converter. So I never actually have to print anything.

So…

A workaround that’s been suggested elsewhere is to have a virtual printer driver that allows me to tell the software that it’s going to be printing on an A1 sheet, which is 4x the size of an A4.

I have no idea how I’d go about doing this, though. And the “Save To PDF” functionality in the OS doesn’t work for this purpose.

I’ve tried playing around with the idea of adding a wide-format printer driver, but all the drivers I’m finding won’t install unless there’s actually a printer attached to the computer.

I know there’s stuff like this for monitors (SwitchResX) - is there something equivalent for printers?

2

I’m not sure that I’m reading your post correctly, but you don’t need to have a printer installed to set custom page sizes, if that’s what you are going for.

3

I tried the custom page sizes, and it doesn’t seem to work. It only shows the “default” page sizes.

I’m hoping that if I put in a printer whose native format is A1, that it will allow an A1 print.

Apparently this is possible on the Windows version, so I’m crossing my fingers. :slight_smile:

4

Just curious. What software are you using?

5

Would selecting a smaller font be possible?

6

Have you tried creating and setting a new custom page size in another application (like in Preview), and then trying to set that size in the problem app?

Or exporting as many 100 page RTF file chunks as needed, and then recombining in a text editor?

7

How about just merging RTFs?

1 Like
8

I’ve already done the smaller font thing. :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

Merging RTFs will work - it’s just an extra set of steps. I was hoping to avoid it. :slight_smile:

10

Can you just upgrade or license the software?

11

Nope. This is for content that I’ve already licensed, in software I’ve already purchased - it’s just a publisher DRM thing.

Oddly enough, the software will actually read me (text-to-speech) the whole book if I want - I just have to be in front of my computer with that particular window at the front of the screen for that to happen. My issue is that I’d prefer to be able to dump that audio and listen when I’m out doing things, doing dishes, etc. :slight_smile:

12

Ah, that’s the real problem.

How about using SoundFlower to record the audio? Just start it playing, let it run for hours, and you’ve got an audio file of the book (or half, etc.).

13

I’m contemplating that too. Just set it to play, turn the volume down, and record.

I’m sure I could do it with ScreenFlow too. :slight_smile:

And honestly, if I didn’t want the computer to be tied up while I did it, I could probably do it in a Mac VM. I was just hoping for a process that didn’t take quite as long. :smiley:

14

Both Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Word allow me to use the system printer page setup for outrageously large page sizes. Are you unable to do the same with your software?

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15

No custom paper sizes available in this app, unfortunately. It doesn’t use the system print dialog - it’s a weird custom export function.

16

If you can’t hack a driver to make a giant single page, I’d concatenate multiple rtfs - you can easily do it manually in TextEdit and save to text (or convert to text via Terminal command and then join the text files). And you could probably make a quick Automator script to do it too - the only real work is selecting the text to make multiple saves.