Like most GNOME applications, Evolution uses the gnome-print system, so if you've used any other GNOME application to print, you should be able to print from Evolution immediately. Whether you're printing a message, a calendar page, or a selection of address cards, you can choose to print directly to a printer, or save the print output to a postscript file. You can also use the preview feature to see how your printed output will look. Print Preview appears both as a button in the printing dialog and as an item in the File menu. In both places, it does the same thing: it opens a new window that shows you what would happen if you were to print the current message, calendar, appointment, or address card. That window allows you to select which pages you want to see, and how close you'd like to look at them. Zoom in or out, fit the page to the window (the Fit button) or match the width of the page and the window (the Fit Width button). None of these buttons changes the way the page will be printed, but they do let you get a better look. If you're satisfied with the way the things look, click Print to send your document on its way. If you'd like to change it, just close the Print Preview window and make the changes you want from your mail, calendar, or addressbook.

Print Preview

The printer selection window, shown in , lets you choose the format for printing— Generic Postscript, whether to write to a PDF file, and whether to print to a file or to an actual printer in Generic Postscript. If you choose a printer, you'll be asked for the printer command (probably lpr) which your system uses. If you choose to print to a file, you'll need to decide upon a filename. And of course, you'll want to choose a number of copies, and whether to collate them. PostScript is the file format used by most laser printers, and in UNIX world is the easiest way to print to a file. However, most systems running Microsoft Windows can't recognize or handle PostScript files. You'll need to print to PDF if you want to share your file with Windows users.

Choosing a Printer

If you're printing a message that's more than one page, you'll have the option of choosing which pages to print. If you're printing a calendar entry, you can decide what range of dates to print. And, if you're printing contact cards, you can decide whether to print only the selected cards, or all of them. When you're ready, click Print to print, Preview to have a look (or another look) at the preview, or Cancel to cancel the whole deal.