Print a File from the Command Line with Out-Printer

The forgotten Out-Printer cmdlet pipes any PowerShell output or text file directly to an installed printer.

WindowsprintingclipowershellLow risk

Pipe the file content to Out-Printer and pass the printer name with -Name (omit it to use the default printer).

01Command

Command

$ Get-Content C:\reports\summary.txt | Out-Printer -Name 'Microsoft Print to PDF'

02What it does

Out-Printer has existed since PowerShell v2 but almost nobody remembers it. It renders plain text into printer pages, which also makes it a free text-to-PDF converter via the 'Microsoft Print to PDF' printer every Windows has. For richer formats, Start-Process file.docx -Verb Print hands the document to its associated app instead.

03Risk

RiskLow risk

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

Out-Printer (Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility)
Microsoft Learn · vendor-doc · 2026-09-17
Evidence: Documents Out-Printer sending output to a printer, with -Name selecting a specific installed printer.

Last verified: 2026-09-17 · Category: Media

06Related solutions

Grep on Windows: Select-String

Windowssearchtextpowershell

Search inside text files and logs with regex, returning file, line number and match.

Low risk ✓ 2026-09-17

Zip Files with Compress-Archive

WindowsZip & Archivesarchivepowershell

Create or update a .zip from any files or folder contents straight from PowerShell.

Low risk ✓ 2026-09-17

Test a TCP port connection on Windows with Test-NetConnection

Windowsnetworktroubleshootingpowershell

A built-in PowerShell one-liner that answers 'is port 5432/3389/443 actually open through this network?' — no telnet client needed.

Low risk ✓ 2026-09-17