Command Line Software for Automatic Printing

fCoder 2Printer is a command line tool for printing documents and images in batch mode. It lets you automate the printing of documents, images, texts, drawings, worksheets, presentations, invoices, and many other files. Since it has no graphic interface, the application is highly efficient, fast, and reliable. 2Printer can work as a standalone tool, be integrated into another software, or launched from scripts.

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Command Line Software for Automatic Printing

Primary features


Running Commands from CMD, PowerShell, or another CLI

To run 2Printer commands, you can use any command line interface (CLI) that you prefer. For instance, you can use Windows PowerShell, including PowerShell 5, 6, and 7 or the good old CMD (Command Prompt) – 2Printer works well from any interface.

Command line software for automatic printing

How to use 2Printer command line syntax

Only One Command Line for All Print Parameters

2Printer command line syntax allows you to add as many print parameters as needed to the command line at once. Set up automatic printing just as needed – within a single command line.

Plus, you can add as many switches as you want (-switch parameter:value) – and they don’t need strict order.

The command line is too long, what do I do?

The maximum length of the string that you can use at the command prompt is limited. To work around the limitation, use the switch -cmdline to run the 2Printer command from a TXT file.

Printing to Multiple Printers at Once

Using the -cmdlines switch, 2Printer can execute multiple commands consecutively. To utilize this feature, create a TXT file containing the desired commands. For instance, you can print to multiple printers using just one command with the necessary print settings.

Printing to multiple printers at once from command line

2Printer uses various sources of files

Using Various Sources of Files

You can use various sources of files (see examples):

  • Path to a single file
  • Folder path
  • List of files
  • Web address (URL)

If you select a folder path as a source, it is possible to scan subfolders and print files from there, too.

Print all files listed in a plain text file

You can print all documents from a list (file paths listed in a TXT file). Use the @ symbol at the beginning of the path when entering a command. Indicate a list of files like this: -src "@C:\List\files.txt"

Set multiple sources of files

You can use multiple sources at once to print files from at the same time! Example: -src "C:\In\*.*" "E:\Files\*.pdf" "@C:\Lists\list.txt"

Printing Multiple Pages on a Single Sheet

With 2Printer, you can place two or several pages on the same sheet of paper before printing. Printing several pages on a single sheet of paper can help you save paper or print many small images or pages in a compact way.

Please note that your source file(s) must be multipage to make this feature work.

This mode can be enabled either from the command line or from 2Printer Settings.

Print multiple pages per sheet from the command line

Printing multiple pages on a single sheet

Enable single print job mode in 2Printer

Printing in Correct Order with Single Print Job Mode

Enable single print job mode (-props spjob:yes) to:

  • Print files in 100% correct order (and not mixed by spooler) so there will be no need to collate the printouts manually;
  • Prevent getting the printouts mixed up when documents come from different users to the same printer in the office.

Separate Printouts by Adding Cover Page

2Printer allows you to add a cover page – a special sheet of paper for separating printed documents (also known as a "slip sheet"). 2Printer has several types of cover pages:

  • Cover page (Print cover page)
  • Ending cover page (Print ending cover page)
  • Folder cover page (Print folder cover page)

To configure any type of cover page, you can choose a blank sheet of paper or a built-in template. Cover pages can be printed in the same print job with the documents.

Create a custom cover page

With Cover Page Designer, you can create your own cover page template using custom text and/or images. It allows you to create, save, and load your *.cover files. Both Add text and Add image settings have a variety of parameters to configure such as alignment, offset, position, rotation, opacity, and more.

Add cover page to separate printouts in 2Printer

New Cover Page Designer

Operations: Resize, Crop, or Rotate Files before Printing

Operations: Resize, Crop, or Rotate Files before Printing

Set image resizing, cropping and rotation in advance! With operations -oper resize, -oper crop, and -oper rotate, you can adjust your images or document pages beforehand to print them the best way possible.

Post-print Actions: Move, Copy, or Delete Files after Printing

There's an optional feature to automatically delete, copy, or move files to another user-specified location after batch printing is complete.

This feature can be configured for both failed and successfully printed files.

Automatically delete, copy, or move files after printing

Add image watermark before printing from command line

Watermarking Images and Documents

2Printer allows you to add an image, text, or barcode watermark automatically before printing. It can be any text or an image / PDF / HTML file. There are many options available like font, size, style, position on page, rotation, z-order (background or foreground position).

Inserting a text watermark is possible either from the command line or from 2Printer Settings.

Add pagination and more

You can add page numbers automatically – by using the {srcfilepageno} macro. Besides, you can take advantage of other built-in macros that can add file or folder name, source file data, date, time, and more.

Configure Default Settings with GUI Controls

in the 2Printer Settings control panel, you can easily change the default settings of the program. Various advanced and common print settings as well as print engine selection are available here. You can set up page range, number of copies, page collation, and much more. This settings panel will let you set up specific configuration only once, with no need to specify these parameters in the command line each time.

Configure default settings with GUI controls

How to Use

Run a command from Command Prompt or PowerShell

Create a VB script or BAT file to run the conversion on schedule or event

Integrate 2Printer into your own code or existing software

What else you can do with 2Printer


Add QR codes before batch printing

Do you need to add a QR code that leads to your company website or any other web address? No worries! With 2Printer, you can easily insert customizable QR codes and other types of barcodes onto document pages. There are various barcode types to choose from, such as Code 128, EAN, UPC, QR-CODE, and more. The barcode watermark feature is available in 2Printer Settings.

Adding QR code before batch printing

Change the pages' printing order to reverse if necessary. It can save you time and you won't need to have to manually re-sort the pages of a multipage document.

Print multipage documents in direct or reverse order

Disable printing blank pages

During the printing process, sometimes you may get a trailing blank page added to the document, which is not needed. But it is possible to skip them by default – use Disable printing empty pages setting.

Disable printing blank pages

Avoid printing duplicate pages

With 2Printer, you can automatically disable printing the same document pages more than once, for example, if overlapping page ranges were specified. To use this feature, enable Skip repeated pages in the Advanced Settings.

Imagine you have some documents with multiple pages and others with one page only. You set the page range to 1,last – to print the last and the first pages. As a result, you'll get some documents printed twice since they consist of one page, which is the first and the last one. The paper will be wasted. To avoid this situation, enable Skip repeated pages.

Skip duplicate pages when printing

Delete empty subfolders if they are not needed

You can automatically delete empty subfolders that are no longer needed after the printed files are moved or deleted by a post-processing action.

Delete source files' subfolders if they are not needed

Automatically delete empty source subfolders after printing

Configure page layout: alignment and offset

You can position the prints in the center or left, right, upper or lower corner of a sheet or shift the pages' position vertically and horizontally by setting a specific value. You set up page alignment and offset in 2Printer Settings (to make them default). Or, add parameters directly to the command: hot_align, ver_align, hor_offset, ver_offset.

Keep a log of files that were not processed

If some files did not print for some reason (unsupported file type, printing error, etc.), there's an ability to create a log file with their filenames and paths. Besides, you can change the location where 2Printer must keep all other log files.

Ability to change log files' location

2Printer can batch print password-protected documents. If you have more than one file secured with passwords, you can specify multiple passwords, too. Add one or more passwords next to the Password list setting in 2Printer Settings to do this task.

Print password-protected files

Edit source files when they are being printed

You can open and edit the files that 2Printer is currently processing. Just enable Keep source files available for editing setting in 2Printer Settings. This way, you can work with your files while they're being printed and keep workflows uninterrupted.

Edit source files when they are being printed

Execute a script before printing a document

With runscript parameter, you can automate the execution of any script before printing each document. For example, you can automatically clear the printer memory buffer this way.

Run a script before printing each document

Change Color/Grayscale mode for different page ranges

You can change the color mode for different page ranges or specific pages. For example, you can have the first page always printed in color and all other pages – in shades of gray.

Change Color/Grayscale mode by page range

Print attachment or service page in the same print job with the document

Printing a document and a cover page or document's attachment in the same print job ensures they will be printed one after another and will not get mixed. It can be handy, for example, if you want to staple them together after printing. To use any of these features, enable them in the Advanced Settings:

  • Service pages > In the same print job with the document
  • Attachments > In the same print job with the document

Print a document and cover page in the same print job

Types of printing available with 2Printer


Batch Printing

Printing multiple PDFs or other office documents can be a time-consuming process if you do it manually. With 2Printer, you can easily print all documents in a folder or multiple files listed in a text file. All you need is to define a printer and a source where your documents are located – a folder or a list with files' destination.

Scheduled Printing

If you need to print out reports or any other documents by 09:00 every Friday morning, you don't have to do it manually. Using 2Printer and Windows Task Scheduler, just set up scheduled printing of files and automatically schedule a print task to run at a specific date and time.

Silent Printing

Silent printing means printing automatically, either by bypassing the print dialog altogether or automated printing when the dialog appears. This is particularly useful, for example, if you print many labels for dispatch. 2Printer can print silently in the background without showing the print preferences dialogue boxes.

Virtual Printing

You can use 2Printer with a virtual printer to automate the conversion of documents to PDF or images such as JPEG, TIFF, and PNG. Instead of using your office or home printing device, try using a virtual printer such as Microsoft Print to PDF, Adobe PDF Printer, or Universal Document Converter.

Script-based Printing

Thanks to the command line interface, you can create your own script files to automate printing documents at a specific time or event. You can create simple batch files (BAT), Command Prompt (CMD), PowerShell (PS1), or Visual Basic scripts (VBS) and schedule their execution via the Task Scheduler.

Printing as a Service

You can run 2Printer from a Windows service. To set up printing as a service, it is possible, for example, to create a Windows Service in C# using Visual Studio. From such a service application, you can run 2Printer commands.


Looking for a specific feature?

Power users, developers, and system administrators, or just anyone familiar with Command Prompt (cmd.exe) can use 2Printer to fully automate printing of documents or images. Please check the Syntax and Settings pages to learn about all available parameters and settings in detail.

We continuously improve our command line utilities and other software products thanks to your feedback and suggestions. Please send us your feature requests, any thoughts, or ask questions via the support page.

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