XPS files or XML Paper Specification files, are Microsoft's direct competitor to Adobe's PDF format. XPS Viewer is the tool used to view XPS files, similar to Adobe Reader. While XPS might not be as popular as PDF, it is used by certain people. For those of you who use it, I've decided to show what are the main qualities of the XPS format, how to create one and how to work with the XPS Viewer, which is available in all versions of Windows 7.

What Are XPS Files and How to Create Them

XPS is a widely-supported, fixed-layout document format designed to preserve document fidelity. XPS holds several advantages such as good cooperation with other technologies like Microsoft's digital rights management technology and it's independence of software and hardware. It's easy to create XPS documents from any type of file that supports printing since this functionality is integrated in all Windows 7 applications. For more information on this topic, I recommend Microsoft's XPS website.

You can create an XPS document from any file that can be printed, just go to the Print Menu of the application you are using and choose 'Microsoft XPS Document Writer' file as a printing device.

You will be asked where to save the new document and under which name. Press Save when you have finished.  

Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 offer the Save As PDF or XPS option. Go to the Save As menu and select PDF or XPS.

Choose XPS as file type in the 'Publish as PDF or XPS' window, set the new file's location and name and click Publish.

The file will be created and saved in the location you specified.

Basic Operations With XPS Viewer

To open an XPS file, just double click on it. The default program for opening XPS files in Windows 7 is XPS Viewer. If you want to open another XPS file, click on File -> Open and then browse to the desired document.

You can save the document under a new name, by pressing Save As in the File menu.

To see more details on the file that you have opened, go to File -> Properties.

To print the document you have to options: you can either go to File -> Print or you can just press the Print button.

The outline view shows the structure of your document. If your document has an outline, press the Outline button to display it.  

XPS Viewer application offers different ways of viewing the document. Press on the drop-down button to choose your preferred view of the document: 100%, One page, Page width, Thumbnails or Full screen.   

Looking for some word or phrase in particular in the XPS file? Just write it in the Search box.

You can navigate between the pages using the Up and Down buttons in the bottom left of the screen.

Setting Permissions With XPS Viewer

XPS Viewer allows you to decide who can view, print, copy or digitally sign an XPS document and also how long a person can view or make changes to the document. XPS Viewer uses the Windows Rights Management Services technology to apply document permissions. To use permissions you must have a Rights Account Certificate. If you don't have one or you need more information on this topic, go to Windows Right Management Services page.

To set up the permission for the document, go to Permissions menu and click 'Set permissions'.

If you don't have any certificates, a message like the one below will appear. Unfortunately we don't have one either, nor the setup required for this, so we cannot show more than this. 

Your default account can be selected by going to the Permissions menu and clicking 'Choose default account'.

In the Document Permissions window you will see the list of user accounts for whom you have certificates. You can add a new account, if you have certificates for a different account than the ones listed.  

Sign a Document With XPS Viewer

A digital signature allows you to see who created an XPS document and to make sure the document was not changed after it was signed. To digitally sign a document you must first obtain a digital certificate. Certificates are used to verify the identity of a person or device, authenticate a service or encrypt files. A certificate for your personal use is not provided automatically so, you will have to contact a certificate authority to request a certificate and import it. If you work for an enterprise that uses certificates you will be able to sign an XPS document. 

To sign a document go to Signatures -> Sign this document.

You will see the available certificate that you will have to confirm as correct or not.

If you don't have a signature, choose from the Signatures menu, 'Request signatures'.

Write your name and press the drop-down button to see the list of available intents for signing. Press the OK button.

You can view all the digital signatures, by choosing View signatures in the Signatures menu.

In the left-hand side of the window you can see the list of all the signatures that were used with that document. Double click on one of the signatures to see more information on it.

If available, you can see the name of the requested signer, the intent, the date until which the document is signed and the location. You can choose to either sign the document or remove the signature from the document by pressing the appropriate buttons.

Conclusion

XPS file is a document format which works pretty well for publishing, archiving and transmitting documents. Also, XPS Viewer is an easy to use application for handling files of this type. Plus, it is much lighter than Adobe Reader ever will be. Do try it out and you might like working with it more than with Adobe's PDF & Adobe Reader. If you have some other tips to share about XPS files and XPS Viewer don't hesitate to leave a comment.

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