How to print .docx silently with c#

Question

I want to print a .docx file silently and being able to choose the tray of the printer.

At first I tried to print the .docx with the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word but word is opening...

After I converted the .docx file to an image and printed it with ProcessStartInfo but it shows a printing window to the user.

ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo(imageFilePath);

            info.Verb = "Print";
            info.CreateNoWindow = true;
            info.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
            Process.Start(info);

I tried another method it print the image silently BUT the image is blured and not scaled correctly.

            PrinterSettings settings = new PrinterSettings();
            string defaultPrinter = settings.PrinterName;

            FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(imageFilePath);


            PrintDocument pd = new PrintDocument();
            pd.DocumentName = fileInfo.Name;

            pd.PrintPage += (sender, args) =>
            {
                Image i = Image.FromFile(imageFilePath);
                PrintPageEventArgs arguments = args;


                System.Drawing.Rectangle m = new System.Drawing.Rectangle()
                {
                    Y = 0,
                    X = 0,
                    Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 0),
                    Height = args.MarginBounds.Height,
                    Size = args.MarginBounds.Size,
                    Width = args.MarginBounds.Width
                };



                if ((double)i.Width / (double)i.Height > (double)m.Width / (double)m.Height)
                {
                    m.Height = (int)((double)i.Height / (double)i.Width * (double)m.Width);
                }
                else
                {
                    m.Width = (int)((double)i.Width / (double)i.Height * (double)m.Height);
                }
                args.Graphics.DrawImage(i, m);
            };

            pd.Print();

So is it possible to print a .docx silently and being able to choose the tray of the printer ?

Did anyone face the same issue. Any help in this regard. Thanks in advance.

An idea would be to convert the docx to pdf then send to the printer. Maybe the printer would better manage a pdf. This is a simple guess. — aloisdg, Oct 25 '19 at 12:11
You can [hide the word instance](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.application.visible). — Longoon12000, Oct 25 '19 at 12:20
I tried to convert it in pdf but I don't know why there is an extra margin on top and on left of the pdf document. — xqlimax, Oct 25 '19 at 13:31

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 25 '19 at 12:38

I did something very similar to this myself but I never looked up the documentation if you could choose the tray. I believe these are set on the print server itself (if you are using one) and would be able to reference those if your application has the access rights.

string PrinterName = @"\\Server\nameOfThePrinter";
            ProcessStartInfo printProcessInfo = new ProcessStartInfo()
            {
                Verb = "PrintTo",
                CreateNoWindow = true,
                FileName = pdfFileName,
                Arguments = "\"" + PrinterName + "\"",
                WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
            };

            Process printProcess = new Process();
            printProcess.StartInfo = printProcessInfo;
            printProcess.Start();
            printProcess.WaitForInputIdle();

            printProcess.WaitForExit(10000);

            if (printProcess.HasExited)
            {

            }else
            {
                printProcess.Kill();
            }

            return true;

Also, you may want to investigate this article here https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/598424/How-to-Silently-Print-PDFs-using-Adobe-Reader-and

Cheers!

It works but I cannot choose the printer tray with this method... — xqlimax, Oct 25 '19 at 13:33
Correct. I do not know the argument required to specify paper tray which is a problematic case. If you want another method check out this other poster https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8943312/changing-printer-trays-during-print-job — Jim Ciccone, Oct 25 '19 at 13:42
Thanks for the link ! I'm able to choose an array now even if the document is not printed correctly it's a good progress ! — xqlimax, Oct 25 '19 at 13:58

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 28 '19 at 09:30

I found a solution I couldn't print a .docx silently so I converted it as a .png image before.

Link to convert .docx to .png

Here is the code to print the image :

            PrinterSettings settings = new PrinterSettings();
            string PrinterName = settings.PrinterName;

            //set paper size
            PaperSize oPS = new PaperSize
            {
                RawKind = (int)PaperKind.A4
            };
            //choose the tray here
            PaperSource oPSource = new PaperSource
            {
                RawKind = (int)PaperSourceKind.Upper
            };
            PrintDocument printDoc = new PrintDocument
            {
                PrinterSettings = settings,
            };
            //set printer name here it's the default printer
            printDoc.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = PrinterName;
            printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize = oPS;
            printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSource = oPSource;

            printDoc.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler((sender, args) =>
            {
                System.Drawing.Image img = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(imageFilePath);
                int printHeight = (int)printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PrintableArea.Height;
                int printWidth = (int)printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PrintableArea.Width;
                int leftMargin = 0;
                int rightMargin = 0;

                args.Graphics.DrawImage(img, new System.Drawing.Rectangle(leftMargin, rightMargin, printWidth, printHeight));
            });

            printDoc.Print();
            printDoc.Dispose();

How to print .docx silently with c#

2 Answers2