Take the 2-minute tour ×  I have paused a print queue and using
Windows Explorer, am monitoring the
C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS directory. When I print
documents to the print queue, I notice the creation of a .spl
file and .shd file. From quickly googling, it looks like the
print job is the .spl file and the .shd file is settings.  Can I
confirm exactly what the .spl file contains? Is it the actual
file being printed after being processed by the print driver? So
once the .shd file has directed the job, the .spl file is the
thing that is actually printed?  share|improve this question
Might be worth a read
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_description_language –  50-3 Sep 18
'13 at 13:02 @50-3 Thanks for the link. –  Federer Sep 18 '13 at
13:05 Your better of looking into postscript files as spl is
likely closed source, easiest way to teSt is open the file in
notepad –  50-3 Sep 18 '13 at 13:11  1 Answer 1  up vote 1 down
vote accepted  Yes, the SPL files are the actual spool (print
job) files.  You can check