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Capturing Prints

How the virtual printer works: IPP capture, document naming, which formats arrive, and where captures are written.

The heart of Deste is a small capture server that presents itself to Windows like a real printer. This page explains what happens behind the scenes when you “print to Deste”.

Appearing as an IPP printer

Deste runs as a local printer that speaks IPP (Internet Printing Protocol), listening on localhost:631 — the address is http://localhost:631/ipp/print. To Windows this is no different from an ordinary network printer, which is why you can select Deste in any app with a Print menu.

The server only binds to localhost, so capture stays entirely on your machine and is never exposed to the outside.

What happens when you print

  1. In an app you choose Print → Deste.
  2. Windows sends the print job over HTTP to Deste’s server.
  3. Deste receives the data, detects its real type from the content, and writes it to disk.
  4. On the modern Windows IPP path the document arrives directly as a PDF, and Deste stores it as-is. (Even if other formats such as PostScript or PWG raster arrive, they are saved raw.)

Document naming

Deste reads the print job’s IPP job name (usually the name of the source document or app) and adds it to the filename — so you can recognize the document in the stack. If there is no job name, a timestamped name (job-…) is used. Characters that are unsafe in filenames are sanitized.

Where captures are written

Captured PDFs go to a writable folder in your user profile:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Deste\captured

This path is deliberate: when Deste starts silently at sign-in, the working directory can be undefined and unwritable, while this user-owned folder is always writable. If you want, you can redirect to a different path with the RUSTPRINTER_OUT environment variable.

Deste watches this folder live: when a new PDF lands (whether because Deste captured it or because you placed it manually) the list updates instantly. To delete a document entirely, just remove the PDF from this folder.

Which files are listed

Deste lists the printable files in the capture folder (PDF and other print formats), newest at the top. PDF is ideal for preview and printing; non-PDF raw formats are kept but may not be previewable.

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