Utility to print only selected text like Print Selection used to do

[milleron]

There was an extremely useful utility for macOS called Print Selection. One could select some text and/or images from a Web page or document, choose "Print Selection" from the Services menu, and just the selection would be printed, saving "gallons" of printer ink, toner, and reams of paper over the years. It was never upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit and can no longer be installed on Monterey, Ventura, etc. I've searched everywhere I can think of for a current Mac utility that does the same thing, but, surprisingly, I find nothing. One can copy his selection and paste it into a text or word-processor document, but that's a hassle and pretty time-consuming compared to Print Selection. Does anyone else know of one or an easy way to do it without a special utility

 

[Slartibart]

Automator to rescue:

1. Open Automator, create a new workflow and select Service as a type.
2. The workflow should receive selected text in any application so leave those as they are.
3. Add New Text File action to the workflow.
4. In the File Format drop-down menu choose rich text to preserve formatting of the text. Change the filename in the Save as field to something.
5. Add Print Finder Items action to the workflow.
6. Choose the printer you want to use.
7. Add Move Finder Items to Trash action to the workflow. This will move the previously created text file to the Trash.
8. Save the workflow with a descriptive name, eg. “Print selection on Deskjet” or similar.
9. Enjoy your new service command.

 

[milleron]

I'd say, "Holy Cow," but that would betray my honorable age. 😉
Thanks, but I could find no way to select SERVICE as a type. In Monterey's Automator, however, it is possible to select "Quick Action" as a type, and, once saved, Quick Actions appear in the Services submenu under the applications main menu as long as something, text or image, has been selected. The Quick Action I created per your instructions, substituting Quick Action for Workflow, does work, although it doesn't bring up the printer's dialog box. That is not always necessary but is sometimes handy. It just prints out the selected text without further ado, which is all that's needed 95% of the time.
Regardless, this Automator Quick Action will serve the purpose and allow me to upgrade to Ventura, which I've hesitated to do because of fear of losing Print Selection. It's not supported in Monterey and cannot be installed in Monterey. However, if one simply selects it in the Applications folder of a Time Machine backup from before the upgrade and chooses to "Restore" it, it appears in the Applications folder of Monterey and does work, even though it's 32-bit. I'm just not sure that I can count on it still working like that in Ventura, and I'd hate to be without it, so I've postponed the upgrade for almost a year already.

[Parenthetically]
I don't fully understand Quick Actions because the Automator User Guide says that once created, they should appear in Finder windows under the

menu options at the top of the Finder Window and at the bottom of a Preview Pane in Column view, as well as in the Services menu of all applications. My Quick Action appears in the Services menu, which is exactly where I want it, but it's nowhere to be found in Finder, and there's no way to add it in System/Preferences/Extensions/Finder. That's fine with me; just curious as to why it doesn't work as described in the User Guide