Total PDF Printer vs Print Conductor: Which Batch Printing Tool to Pick?

A folder holds three hundred invoices, and every one has to reach the printer today. Opening each PDF and pressing Ctrl+P burns an afternoon and still risks a skipped file. Two Windows tools print the whole folder unattended: Print Conductor and Total PDF Printer. They overlap, but they are built for different jobs — here is the honest comparison.

Quick answer: Print Conductor wins when you must print many different file types — Office, images, AutoCAD drawings, labels — from one queue, thanks to 90+ supported formats. Total PDF Printer is the specialized PDF batch printer: it sorts print order by name or date, sets duplex per job, adds separator sheets, runs from a built-in command line, and ships a server edition — $49.90 one-time with a free trial.

Total PDF Printer vs Print Conductor: The Facts

What Print Conductor Does Well

Print Conductor is a mature, well-known batch printer, and its headline strength is reach: it prints over 90 file types from a single list — PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, AutoCAD DWG/DXF, Visio, Zebra ZPL labels, even files inside ZIP archives. If your queue mixes formats, one Print Conductor list handles all of them, where Total PDF Printer would need its Pro edition just to reach DOC, XLS and TIFF.

It is also free for non-commercial use, so a home user pays nothing — the free run simply adds a report page at the end of each session. It offers duplex, automatic tray selection by paper size, several pages per sheet, collation, and a print-completion report. For a mixed-format library on a home PC, it is a strong and honest choice.

Where Total PDF Printer Wins

• Built-in command line, no add-on. PDFPrinter.exe runs from a .bat file or Task Scheduler with no extra purchase. Print Conductor is GUI-only; scripting it means buying and learning fCoder's separate 2Printer tool.
• Separators between every document. Drop a blank page — or a chosen PDF — between each printed file, so a 300-file run comes off the tray already split by job. Print Conductor generates a cover page for the batch, not one between each document.
• Headers, footers, pagination. Stamp page numbers, dates, and header or footer text onto the printed output as it prints — useful for numbered court bundles or dated archives.
• Exact print-order control. Sort the queue by name, by modification date, or by the numbers inside the filename, so pages come out in the order the job needs.
• Server edition. Total PDF Printer X runs the same engine headless on Windows servers via ActiveX, DLL, or command line — built for unattended pipelines.
• Price for commercial PDF work. $49.90 one-time covers commercial use; Print Conductor is free only for non-commercial use and starts at $149 per seat for business.

How Do I Print Hundreds of PDF Files at Once?

Install Total PDF Printer, click Add Folder and point it at the directory, choose your printer, then set paper size, tray, duplex, scaling and separator sheets. Click Print and every PDF goes to the printer silently, in the sort order you picked, with no file-by-file opening and no Adobe Acrobat. Subfolders are included on request, so a whole archive tree prints in one pass. See the step-by-step batch print guide for the full walkthrough.

Can I Batch Print PDFs from the Command Line?

Yes — Total PDF Printer has a documented command line built in, so no companion product is required:

PDFPrinter.exe "C:\Invoices\*.pdf" -p "HP LaserJet" -sort date -d vertical -sep blank -Recurse

-p picks the printer, -sort date orders files by date, -d vertical sets duplex, -sep blank inserts a blank separator between documents, and -Recurse includes subfolders. The full switch list also covers tray, paper size, scaling, copies and headers. With Print Conductor you would script fCoder's separate 2Printer utility instead.

How Do I Keep Print Jobs Separated for Different Clients?

Use separator pages. Total PDF Printer can insert a blank sheet or a chosen PDF between every printed document, so when the stack comes off the printer each client's set is already divided — no hand-sorting a 300-page pile. Command-line jobs get the same with -sep blank or -sep document plus -sepdoc for a custom divider page.

When to Pick Which

• Many different formats in one queue (Office, CAD, images, labels) — Print Conductor.
• Home, non-commercial use of mixed files — Print Conductor, free.
• PDF-focused batch printing with sort, duplex and separators — Total PDF Printer.
• Scripted or scheduled printing without buying a second tool — Total PDF Printer.
• Server-side, unattended printing — Total PDF Printer X.
• Commercial PDF work on a budget — Total PDF Printer at $49.90 one-time.
• PDF plus DOC, XLS and TIFF in one job — Total PDF Printer Pro.

Total PDF Printer costs $49.90 for a lifetime license. The 30-day trial is free and needs no email or credit card — run it on a real folder and watch the whole stack print unattended. For the GUI walkthrough, see how to batch print PDF files.

Total PDF Printer vs Print Conductor: FAQ ▼