How to Open PRN Files

With the following article we will cover enough information to know How to open PRN files both Windows, As in Mac y AndroidFinding a PRN file on your device can be a little confusing if you don't know how it got there, or how to access its contents.

This file type is unique and can be converted to different file formats and opened with applications you probably already have on your device.

By the end of this article, you will have no problems with open prn files No matter what type of device you have, you will understand how it is created and be able to convert the file as it suits you best.

What Are PRN Files?

The PRN file extension is attached to the files that are automatically created when a print message is provided to a device. This file contains the data to be printed, as well as all the precepts and settings for the print action.

Because the creation of files for the PRN extension is automatic rather than manual, it is not uncommon to find people who do not know how the file came about and how to open it.

How to Open PRN Files?

There are several actions you can take in a PRN file. They include editing the file and printing it.

Since it contains print settings saved as codes that are not easily understood, most people just like to preview the content and edit the data to be printed.

One of the advantages of this file type is that you do not have to look for another device with a different operating system before you can open your file. You can open it on your Android, Windows or Mac device by following the steps below.

How to open PRN files on Windows and Mac

Your PRN file It will not open on your Windows device by simply double clicking on it, you will need to use particular applications and methods to open it.

Method 1: Use a support app

You can open a PRN file with applications that support this file type. Some of these are: CorelDRAW, images of documents of Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Notepad, etc. If you have any of these programs installed, here's what you should do.

• Locate the file. Browse through your file explorer to locate the PRN file.
• Right click on the file and choose the option “To open with".
• You will get a pop-up of the different apps you have on your device. Select any app that supports this file type and click “Open”, which is located at the bottom right of the pop-up window.

Method 2: Convert it to an XPS file

An XPS file supports a wide range of applications on your device. Therefore, if you are having problems opening your file using the above method, consider converting the file to an XPS file that can then be opened by various programs.

• Right-click the file. Locate the file on your device and right-click the icon.
• Now rename the extension. From the available options, select the option to rename your file. This will highlight the file name and extension, ready to be edited.
• Just change “.PRN” a “.XPS”You can also rename the file, but that has no effect on opening it.
• Now save it. After editing the name, clicking anywhere outside the dialog box will automatically save it.

You can also save by clicking the “Enter”, and Mac book users can click “Back” located at the bottom right of the dialog box.

Your file is now an XPS file that compatible applications can easily open.

Note that in most cases you can open PRN files with a generic text reader, so method 1 should suffice.

If you are unsure of the content or suspect that the file may contain images, you can also use the other support programs listed in Method 1.

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How to open PRN files on Android

With a file viewer application, such as File Viewer For Android, you should be able to open a PRN file on your Android device.

Be careful when editing PRN files, as they contain printing settings such as codes. Altering these settings may result in a printing error when you later try to print it.

How to Convert PRN Files to PDF

Converting a PRN file involves renaming the extension to whatever you want. This could be an XPS file, for example.

However, if you want to convert your PRN file to a PDF, you will need to go one step further than simply modifying the file extension. The steps listed below will help you successfully convert your PRN file to a PDF file.

Perform the conversion manually

• Locate the file from your File Explorer. You should already know where your PRN file is located, but if you're just creating your PRN file, make sure to save it in a location you'll remember.
• You can always search for your file from the “Search” tab in the file explorer or by searching through your launcher bar. All you need to do is know the file name or search by the PRN extension.
• Rename the file. When you find the PRN file, you need to choose the option to rename the file. To do this, right-click on the file icon in its location and select the “Rename” from the pop-up window.
• This will make the current file name highlighted in blue, from here you need to rename the extension. If you are converting to a pdf file format, change the extension to “.PRN" to ". PS”. After that, you can save the file.
• At this point, you can decide to convert your file to other formats. The extension . It is only needed when you try to convert it to a pdf.
• Now open Adobe Acrobat and create PDF. Adobe Acrobat is a popular application for converting files to PDF formats. Find its search tab and open it by double-clicking the application icon.
• With Adobe Acrobat open, go to the “Archive” at the top left of the user interface.
• Click on the tab “Archive” to reveal a drop-down menu from which you must select “create PDF".
• You will see a message asking you to create a PDF, select “from file”, which will open a file browser window.
• Find your file. Now, you need to locate the file . that you previously saved. By default, your documents will open here, so if your file is not saved there, you must navigate to the location and select the file.
• Click “open,” which will be a tab in the bottom right corner of the Windows File Explorer window.
• When you opened the file in the previous step, your file . It is automatically converted to a PDF file, so all that's left is to save your new file.
• Click on the “Save As” tab located in the menu bar and give it a name and save it.

Use an online file converter

There is always the option of using an online file converter to convert your PRN filesOnline converters are usually self-explanatory, easy to use, and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

However, take note of the type of data contained in the PRN file to know what type of format you should convert your file to. The process for using online converters usually goes like this:

• You need to go to the file converter's website in your browser. There are many file converters available, you just need to make sure you're using one you trust.
• Choose the file to upload. There will be a tab labeled “Choose file","Browse file" or something similar.
• Click on it to open a file explorer window from which you can select the PRN file you want to convert.
• After selecting the file, you must wait while the file is loaded on the page.
• Choose the target file type, there will be a tab to select the file type, this is where you choose the format you want your new file to be in.
• Click on "Convert” and wait while it loads. This shouldn’t take long, depending on the size of your file and the strength of your network.
• Now save the newly converted file.

Programs to open PRN files in Windows

Below we present the best free software for Open PRN files in WindowsWith this software, you will be able to view and read any PRN file.

The PRN file is a type of file that carries instructions for a printer to know what to print on a page. If you open a PRN in a normal file editor, you will see pre-formatted text along with lots of code that may be useless to a normal user.

To view the relevant content present in the PRN file, you need to use some specific PRN file viewers that show you the original content.

To display relevant content, some PRN viewers They first convert the file to PDF and then show you the content. However, other software can directly open a PRN file without converting it to PDF.

In both cases, you can view and read a PRN document with ease. To make the viewing experience easier, these free programs provide some common but essential tools such as page navigation, zooming in, zooming out, scrolling the page, etc.

1. Total PDF Converter

Total PDF Converter is a free PRN file viewer software for Windows. However, it is primarily a file converter through which you can convert an input file to other file formats such as PDF, DOC, RTF, PS, PCL and more.

It has similar sets of supported input and output formats. Therefore, you can view and read documents in any of the above-mentioned formats.

In this software, you can view a PRN file or any other document file, but its on-screen viewer only displays the first page of a PRN or other type of input document.

To work around this limitation, you must use your print preview option which displays all pages of a PRN document at once.

Additionally, page navigation and zoom in/out tools are also present in the preview option to navigate between pages and clearly view the entire content of a PRN document respectively.

If you want to convert the format of an input document or PRN file, first browse the document using its built-in file browser, choose a format from the toolbar and press the Next button to start the conversion.

After conversion, you can easily save the converted file to PC.

Overall, it's an excellent file converter, but as a PRN viewer, it's just average due to its main viewer's inability to display all pages of a PRN document.

2. FreePDF

FreePDF is a free PRN viewer software for Windows. It is used to convert a PRN file to PDF and also to view the contents of a PRN file.

To show you the content of the PRN file, it first converts the PRN file to PDF format and then shows you the content of that file. The actual PRN file contains pre-formatted texts and codes that make the file unreadable for general users.

That is why this software first converts the PRN to a PDF file and then simply acts as a PDF viewer and displays the entire content of that file without altering the original formatting.

To view the PRN file, first, add a PRN file from your file menu and press the “Open” button. Immediately, this viewer will convert your PRN file to PDF and then prompt you to save the PDF file.

Now, you can easily open the PDF file by pressing the “Open PDF” button.

In this software, you can control the quality of the generated PDF file from its on-screen PDF file menu, which allows you to save PDF as high quality, medium quality, and also as an e-book.

Apart from PRN and PDF, it only supports one more format called PS file format. It also contains two other additional tools, one of which adds password protection on a PDF file and the other is used to merge two PDFs into a single file.

How to Open a PRN File with CorelDraw?

If you are opening a text file in CorelDraw, you can go through the long process of using “to open with".

However, if you suspect that this is an image file and are interested in the positioning of the image data, you can open a new canvas in CorelDraw, drag and drop your file onto the canvas. It's that simple.

How Do I Print a PRN File?

• Search for PRN in Windows Explorer.
• Click and hold that file.
• Drag it over the printer icon and drop it.
• The printer will attempt to print the document. If it is supported it should work.

To close

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Managing a PRN is not difficult and in most cases there are only a few changes you need to make to this file. The steps detailed above will tell you how to open your file.

After that, you can edit the data or reset the printing details. Make sure that if you are just editing, you do not alter the printing settings that will appear as codes.