Patent US 7,366,980

One or more embodiments of the invention enable a user to establish, configure, and associate one or more output devices with a file. Prior art applications provide for configuring an output device (e.g., a printer) on an application wide basis. Users often format a file or document based on an output device. Consequently, it is useful to associate an output device with a particular file or information. In graphics programs, a user may define a drawing (referred to as a model) with various layouts or views of the drawing. Each layout or view may be formatted for a particular output device. Consequently, one or more embodiments of the invention associate one or more files, layouts, or views with one or more output devices. Additionally, each output device may be configured for a particular file, layout, or view. One or more embodiments of the invention provide for the association of one or more output device configurations with one or more files, layouts, or views.