XPS documents
This feature is included in the following editions of Windows Vista:
An XPS document is a Microsoft document format that you can use to archive content in a standardized format or publish content in an easily viewable form. You can also use this format to ensure that no one is able to edit your original work.
Download the XPS Viewer for Windows XP
XPS document creation
You can easily create XPS documents from virtually any application using the Microsoft XPS Document Writer.
XPS Document Writer
Whether you are working with documents in Microsoft Word, photos in Microsoft Paint, or a web order form being viewed in Internet Explorer, if the application has the ability to print, then the Microsoft XPS Document Writer will be available through the Print dialog of the application.
Use the XPS Document Writer from any application to publish content as an XPS document.
After you have created your XPS document, you can use Windows Vista to add "tags"—custom keywords—to your document to help you find it later. Windows Vista also has all the necessary components to index XPS documents, so you can find your XPS documents by filename, author, or even by text contained within the document itself.
Creating XPS documents in the 2007 Microsoft Office system
With a free download, you can also "Save as XPS" directly from the following 2007 Microsoft Office system programs: Access, Excel, InfoPath, OneNote, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio, and Word. Rather than going through the print menu, you can use the "File | Save As" option to create an XPS version of your document, presentation, or spreadsheet directly from the authoring application.
From the 2007 release, you can save as or publish directly to XPS.
XPS document viewing
The XPS Viewer is installed by default in Windows Vista, so you can open a document created with the XPS document format. The viewer is hosted within Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8.
Permission, Digital Signature, Search, and Document Viewing controls on the XPS Viewer.
High-fidelity onscreen graphics
XPS documents feature support for high-fidelity text and graphics. When the document is magnified, the text always appears smooth, clear, and accurate at any size.
XPS document and non-XPS document magnified.
Managing XPS documents
Digitally signing your XPS documents
You also can "sign" XPS documents to ensure their integrity as they travel from point A to point B. For example, in a corporate environment that supports document signing certificates, you can digitally sign an XPS document directly within the XPS Viewer. In many countries, these digital signatures are considered to be legally valid signatures. If the document is modified or tampered with by a malicious individual, recipients viewing the changed document are notified that the signature is no longer valid.
Digitally sign your XPS document to ensure the integrity of its contents.
Applying rights management to your XPS documents
If your company has already deployed Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS), you can use those services to add an additional layer of protection to your XPS documents. With built-in RMS support, you can set specific access permissions to any XPS document, allowing you to protect sensitive information even after the document is published and shared. You can use the XPS rights management capabilities to designate who can read your document, copy text from it, or print it. With XPS Rights Management Services, you can even set an expiration date after which access to the document is no longer enabled.
Rights Management Services allow you to manage access permissions for both Microsoft Office file formats and XPS documents. This common platform for rights management across Microsoft products enables seamless integration when using XPS with other Microsoft applications and services. For example, copying attaching an XPS document to an email with restricted permissions will automatically apply those restrictions to the attached XPS. Similarly, saving an XPS document to a Microsoft Office SharePoint document library that has restricted permissions will also automatically apply those restrictions to that XPS document. This platform integration of Rights Management services with XPS and other Microsoft products is more cost effective than having to purchase separate rights management offerings to protect each document and publishing format within an organization.
Applying rights to an XPS document using Windows Rights Management Services.
Improved Windows printing experience
In recent years, the capabilities of printers for the personal computer have dramatically improved in resolution, color, and quality, while costs have dropped significantly. As a result, you can print digital memories at home using inexpensive yet sophisticated color printers that provide quality output in a matter of seconds. At work, you can use advanced graphics such as transparencies and gradients to bring your sales materials to life.
In Windows Vista, XPS is the basis for the printing infrastructure, and when paired with an XPS-enabled printer, you get a truly next-generation printing experience.
Windows Vista and an XPS-enabled printer offer the following benefits:
Improved color printing The operating system can communicate a broader range of color information from applications to inkjet printers that use more than four ink colors (known as wide-gamut printers). The advanced color capabilities available in XPS make Windows Vista a great platform for printing photos with more lifelike output.
High-fidelity print output The XPS print infrastructure enables high-fidelity output by reducing or eliminating image data conversions and color space conversions that typically occur during printing. The benefit for users is that smooth shadings, fades, and glow effects used in modern documents print just as intended, without loss of image fidelity or color fidelity.
Transparency effect from an XPS printer (left) versus a non-XPS printer (right).
Faster printing of documents with rich graphics With XPS-enabled enterprise class printers—available now from many printer manufacturers—the time spent waiting to finish printing a rich, color graphics document is dramatically reduced. Consider a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that has the same color background repeated across 30 slides.
Before XPS, that enterprise printer would render that same color image 30 times, creating a massive "spool" or print file (and a long wait for everyone else that needed the printer). These massive spool files were also a tax on network bandwidth.
With XPS, the color image is sent to and rendered by the printer once.
The result with XPS is that you can often see as much as a 90 percent reduction in printing time and/or spool file sizes for documents with many graphics. Nobody likes to wait at the printer, and with Windows Vista with XPS and XPS-enabled printers, you can get back to work quickly.