Sometimes a program lets me print to file, and I'd like to be able to
edit the resulting file. By default, it creates a *.PRN file, which of
course seems not to be editable. What should I do to solve this?
1. Save it as a different file type? If so, which?
2. Change the name to a different file type? If so, which?
3. ...And then open with which program(s)?

Hi bbb,

PRN files are not editable without help from a special program.
Following are two options I found on the Computing.net forum.

1. MULTIPLY PROGRAM:
"Go to website http://www.TENTIME.COM. The multiPLY program is a "plot
file" formatter that will allow you to reformat the file. It reads a
plot file, allows the user to update it, and then writes out a new
file."
http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/9466.html

"Using it is essentially a three-step process:
 
    1.  Open a plot file,
    2.  change it to look the way you want,
    3.  create an updated plot file.
 
You end up with a new file containing your changes.  The original plot
file is unchanged.   multiPLY runs stand-alone and is not tied to any
particular program, program release number, or plotter type."
http://www.tentime.com/Overview.htm

2. GHOSTSCRIPT:
"you can down load ghostscript from  http://ghostscript.com/  and u
can view the file. you can also download gsview and extract text from
prn files with the help of ghostscript."
http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/9466.html

Additional Links:

Here is a good explanation and comparison of the different types of
files:
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~ds688/formats.html

PRN files:
"By printing to a file, the file on disk is in a format suitable for
printing, but not suitable for manipulation or editing.  When
attempting
to open it, the file will appear as "garbage" because it's a binary
file, not a file format most word processors can manage.  You can
print
the file, you can send it via modem to someone else, or you can hand
the
file on disk to another individual -- that's about the extent of your
options."
http://archives.hwg.org/hwg-basics/01bee8db$7722be00$38239cd1@default

I hope this helps. If you have any questions or if this doesn't
satisfy your request, please post a clarification request before
rating my answer.

Thank you,
hummer

Search Strategy:
://www.google.ca/search?num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&q=+%22edit+a+.prn+file%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Terms Used:
"edit a .prn file"

Seems very clear and very thorough. I appreciate getting such a
complete picture, plus options. Thanks!

Hummer's answer misses the point of a PRN file.

In most cases, when a program lets you print to a file,
intstead of sending the printer commands it would normally
send to the printer, it is storing those printer commands
into a file.

So the actual printer commands stored in the PRN file
depend on what type of printer you are using.

Unless your printer is a plotter of some sort, I doubt
the Multiply program will be useful.

Some printers use the Postscript language, in which case, you
could use the Gostscript program to view the file, but not
much in the way of editing it.

---

Since I'm not sure exactly how you want to edit the file,
I'm not sure of a good answer to your question.
I have no printer at all on my computer, but I use a generic
Postscript printer driver to create a postscript file,
then use the Gostscript program to convert this into a bitmap
file.

Dear bbb,

Thank you! I appreciate everything including your nice note, fine
rating and tip - I hope you will now be able to do some editing on
those files. Please excuse the poor formatting of that one paragraph -
it doesn't look very nice.

Thank you also to bavi_h-ga for your help.

Sincerely,
hummer

to bavi_h:
Thanks for this comment. I can see that I did not supply enough facts.
Typically, I would be talking about text, and wanting to edit it. For
example: I wanted to print a page from my own website, showing the
design and layout of text. It printed fine, except that some of the
text ran off the right margin. I wanted to be able to edit just that
bit of text. I realize this isn't a WP file, but I was hoping it might
somehow be editable by some basic program like Notepad.
    There are other situations like this, but this is a typical
example.
    I suspect I'm hoping for what's not feasible. Am I?

Thanks!