Installation

Deste consists of two files: the application itself, deste.exe, and the PDF engine pdfium.dll. They must live in the same folder. There is no installer — it runs portably.

1. Download and place

Put deste.exe and pdfium.dll in a permanent folder, for example:

C:\Program Files\Deste\
├── deste.exe
└── pdfium.dll

Important: pdfium.dll must be in the same folder as deste.exe. If it is missing, preview and printing won’t work, and the app will tell you with a warning.

2. Run it

Double-click deste.exe. The app:

• Settles into the system tray,
• Starts the capture server in the background on localhost:631,
• Opens the main window (closing it doesn’t quit the app — it just hides to the tray).

Deste must be running before you add the printer — the printer connects to this running server.

3. Add it to Windows as a printer

Deste advertises itself on the network; on the Windows side you need to define a printer that points to it. There are two ways.

Easy way — PowerShell (as administrator)

Open PowerShell as administrator and run the one-liner:

Add-Printer -Name "Deste" -DriverName "Microsoft IPP Class Driver" -PortName "http://localhost:631/ipp/print"

Manually — Settings

1. Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners.
2. Add device → wait a moment → “The printer that I want isn’t listed”.
3. Choose “Select a shared printer by name” and type into the box:

   http://localhost:631/ipp/print

4. Next → the driver Microsoft IPP Class Driver is preselected → finish.

Critical: The printer’s name in Windows must be exactly Deste. Deste refuses to print to its own printer to prevent an infinite capture loop, and that guard works by checking the Windows printer name. If the name differs, the guard is disabled.

4. Run at startup (recommended)

Printing only works while Deste is running. To avoid opening it manually every sign-in:

• In Deste, click the gear (⚙) Settings button in the top bar,
• Turn on the Run at startup switch.

This adds deste.exe --hidden to the Windows registry’s sign-in list; on the next boot Deste starts silently in the tray without showing a window. (No need to place a shortcut in the Startup folder.)

5. Verify

In any app, choose Print → Deste. Within a few seconds the document should appear at the top of the stack in the Deste window.

Where captured documents are kept

Captured prints are written as PDFs to a writable folder in your user profile:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Deste\captured

Deste watches this folder live; PDFs you place there manually also appear in the list. To remove a document entirely, just delete its PDF from this folder.

Uninstalling

1. Quit Deste from the tray with Quit.
2. Remove the Deste printer under Settings → Printers & scanners.
3. If you enabled run at startup, turn it off in Settings (or run the app and toggle the switch off).
4. Delete the Deste folder, and optionally the captures in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Deste.

Next step

• Quick start — capture and print your first document.