ChangeBins tool

Microsoft Word allows users to configure paper trays for the first and subsequent pages of every section in a document. The selection of available paper trays is always limited to the trays offered by the currently selected printer.

If the user selects another printer to print a document on, the user has to change the selected paper tray unless the new printer is the same brand and model as the original printer.

Microsoft Word stores the selected paper trays by "bin number." These bin numbers are defined by the printer driver and can vary from printer to printer, depending on the options installed on that printer. If another printer is selected, Word simply matches paper trays based on the bin numbers and maps all bins unknown by the new printer to its default paper tray. The names of the bins and their definitions are ignored, and it is left to the user to correct any mismatches.

If an organization uses different brands or models of printers, this behavior can lead to unpredictable results:

• If the new printer driver uses the same bin number as the printer driver the document was formatted for, the pages are printed from that paper tray regardless of the properties of the tray.
• If the new printer driver does not use the same bin number as the printer driver the document was formatted for, the pages are printed from the default tray.

The ChangeBins tools have been developed to solve the problems described earlier. These tools allow an organization to specify a mapping for the printer drivers, which you can use to change paper trays according to the real attributes of the printer trays.

The following programs are included in the ChangeBins tools:

• ChangeBins

  A command-line version designed to develop and test printer configurations.

• ChangeBinsW

  A Windows version of the ChangeBins program designed to be used in an unattended environment. This program only provides a return code and does not print additional diagnostics or use message boxes.

• QueryPrinters

  A command-line tool designed to query bin number assignments for all printers installed on a computer.