dburga

I read your question and realised I was looking for the exact same thing (I think). I have since worked it out. The actual code only ends up being 5 lines, but I have added comments so you can see what each bit does - works like a charm!

'----------------------------------------------------------------

'STEP 1

'DETERMINE THE ACTUAL NAME OF CURRENT DEFAULT PRINTER

'Retrieve name of current default printer and

'Display printer name in a message box

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'This constant is used to hold the title of the message box

Const Caption As String = "The Default Printer Name Is"

'This variable is used to hold the name of the active printer

Dim DefaultPrinterName As String

'Assign the active printer to the variable

DefaultPrinterName = Application.ActivePrinter

'Display the message box

MsgBox DefaultPrinterName, vbInformation, Caption

'THE RESULT IS A MESSAGE BOX DISPLAYING THE ACTUAL PRINTER NAME

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'STEP 2

'PRINT TO PRINTER OTHER THAN CURRENT DEFAULT

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'Retrieve name of current default printer and hold as variable

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'This variable is used to hold the name of the active printer

Dim DefaultPrinterName As String

'Assign the active printer to the variable

DefaultPrinterName = Application.ActivePrinter

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'Print to other printer, eg Adobe PDF (becomes default printer)

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

ActivePrinter = "Adobe PDF"

Application.PrintOut Range:=wdPrintAllDocument, _

Item:=wdPrintDocumentContent, Copies:=1

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'Change default printer back to original default printer

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

Application.ActivePrinter = DefaultPrinterName