Printing Finder windows

Reader Mark Winchester seeks an OS X equivalent to a feature found in the old Mac OS. He writes:

I work with a number of designers and print industry people who remember printing a window from Mac OS 9 to include with a CD for reference for what’s on the CD. I have yet to figure out a way to accomplish the same in Mac OS X land. Any help?

Try this:

Launch Printer Setup Utility (found at /Applications/Utilities). From the Printer List window select the printer you want to use and choose Printers > Create Desktop Printer. In the sheet that appears, save the desktop printer to, well, your desktop.

When you’re ready to print the contents of a window, just drag the window’s enclosing folder to the desktop printer you created. A Print dialog box will appear. Click Print and your printer will spit out a list of the folder’s contents.

Regrettably, this method doesn’t expand subfolders to reveal their contents in the printed list. For that feature, download SearchWare Solutions’ free PrintWindow Standard. The $15 PrintWindow Advanced can format your file listings for a standard CD or DVD case.