I COMMAND THEE TO PRINT A DIRECTORY--PART 1 OF 3

In our last tip, we discussed a way to print directory listings on your Windows 98 system. A shareware utility called Directory Printer ($15) is available for download from

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-0423%2C00.html

Another method is to use DOS commands to transform the listing you want to print into a text file. You can then print that file from your application of choice.

Let's assume you want to print a directory listing for drive C. First, create a text file--for example, C:\My Documents\DirListing.txt--from this listing. Select Start, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt, and type the following command line:

dir C:\ /S > C:\DirListing.txt

(Note: The /S switch searches all folders and sub-folders.) Close the MS-DOS Prompt window and open the .txt file you just created in your word processor. (Don't use Notepad--it can't handle large files.) From there, just print the file as you would any other document. The nice part is you have access to all of that program's commands, such as page breaks.

(Tip: To print a listing of only one folder, as opposed to an entire drive, type its path after the C:\ in the above command line.)

Don't feel like dealing with a .txt file middleman? In our next tip, we'll show you how to send a directory listing right to the printer....