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What is a printer driver?

April 26, 2017deskjet device driver driver Epson Hewlett-Packard paretologic photosmart printer printer driver XML

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What is a printer driver?

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A printer driver, also called a printer processor, plays a key role in getting your documents from the screen onto paper. It is a small software program that communicates between your software, printer and operating system. Printers use very specific instructions, while software, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop, uses generic language. The printer driver translates the messages the two need to send to each other. Printer drivers are different from print spoolers. This is software that “queues” your requests to print a document and schedules the printing. The Win32 application programming interface (API) does allow software to bypass the printer driver and send data straight to the print spooler. However, this approach is not commonly used. Click here to discover all of the drivers that your PC truly needs!