# Printing to pdf creator

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition81\
**Created:** [December 17, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235 "2023-12-17T18:32:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![d.iannozzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@d.iannozzi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/d.iannozzi)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/1 "2023-12-17T18:32:27Z")

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Hello guys,  
I am trying to use pdfCreator as a printer with the system.report.executeAndDistribute  
function.  
There are no log errors and I have also tried disabling the interactive function within pdfCreator.  
Is this even possible or am I doing something wrong ?

Thanks and regards,  
Dominic

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**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/2 "2023-12-17T18:47:01Z")

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What is pdfCreator? If this is a commercial application then at least post a URL to somewhere that explains the product.

We probably need to see your code too. Please post it and format it properly with the \</\> button.

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/3 "2023-12-17T18:53:49Z")

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Why wouldn't you just use the native PDF format?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![d.iannozzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@d.iannozzi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/d.iannozzi)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/4 "2023-12-17T18:57:55Z")

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Hello,  
pdfCreator ([https://www.pdfforge.org/en/pdfcreator](https://www.pdfforge.org/en/pdfcreator)) is a free application that creates a printer queue and generates a pdf output.  
I have a gateway script that prints a report on true...

```auto
p = system.tag.readBlocking("[default]test_print")[0].value
if p:
	system.tag.writeBlocking("[default]test_print",0)
	settings = {'primaryPrinterName': 'PDFCreator', 'backupPrinterName': 'none', 'copies': 1, 'pageOrientation': 'portrait'}
	system.report.executeAndDistribute(path='test', project='Test', action='print', actionSettings=settings)

```

If the output goes to a physical printer there are no problems.

Thanks,  
Dominic

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![d.iannozzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@d.iannozzi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/d.iannozzi)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/5 "2023-12-17T19:06:28Z")

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Hello,  
I did have this application already installed and is quite neat...if I cannot resolve I will follow your suggestion.

Thanks,  
Dominic

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 7:33pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/6 "2023-12-17T19:33:58Z")

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Ignition's reporting tool is fundamentally a PDF creator. If you have Ignition use a printer, it takes the PDF it created internally and prints it. If you then run through PDFcreator you are doing extra work for nothing. (Yes, PDFcreator is a neat program. I use it for some things, too. Doesn't make it appropriate for this usage.)

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**Author:** ![d.iannozzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@d.iannozzi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/d.iannozzi)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/printing-to-pdf-creator/83235/7 "2023-12-17T20:24:47Z")

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Ok!  
Thanks for your time !

Have a good one