As we move to a paperless world with digital copies of everything, we all printout less and less.

When do print it can take a lot longer than it should, but… By placing a active alias ‘copy’ of your installed printer on the desktop you can drag and drop any document on top of this new alias.

The document will start the print job, without having to open the document and press print. You’ll job see the printer job queue window open on the desktop.

What Is An Alias

Aliases are basically shortcuts to the original file or application, whilst having the ability to be more than just a link they can preform tasks and in the case of printers, starting a print job without opening the file.

On windows based systems when you move the original object the shortcut breaks and no longer opens the file, on a macOS the alias link follows the object around the operating system, and to and from cloud storage. As long as the original file is available the alias will work.

How To Make An Alias

cmd ⌘ + option ⌥ and drag

cmd ⌘ + click > Make Alias / right click > Make Alias

Select item, and press cmd ⌘ + l - this will ultimately put the shortcut in same location and name it with a number at the end.