How To Print On Mac

Tips
1

My Mac keeps giving me random errors every time I try to print, no matter which app I use. I’ve checked the printer connection and restarted both devices, but nothing helps. Can someone explain the correct steps to print on a Mac and what settings or drivers I should check to get my printer working reliably again

2

Short checklist that usually fixes Mac print chaos:

  1. Reset the printing system
    • Go to System Settings > Printers & Scanners.
    • Right click in the printers list area.
    • Click “Reset printing system”.
    • Confirm, then add your printer again with the plus button.
    This clears old queues and corrupt prefs.

  2. Remove old drivers
    • If your printer installed its own software, uninstall it from Applications.
    • Then go to /Library/Printers and check for vendor folders.
    • Delete only the folder for your printer brand, not everything.
    • Restart the Mac.

  3. Re‑add printer the simple way
    • System Settings > Printers & Scanners > plus button.
    • Pick the printer from the list.
    • For “Use”, pick “AirPrint” if it shows.
    AirPrint is more stable than many vendor drivers.

  4. Clear stuck print queue
    • Open Print Center by clicking the printer icon in the Dock when you try to print.
    • Delete all pending jobs.
    • Try a plain text test: print from TextEdit, one page, black and white.

  5. Test on another user account
    • Create a new user in System Settings > Users & Groups.
    • Log into that user and try to print.
    • If it works there, your main account has messed prefs.
    You can then remove ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print* from your main account and log out/in.

  6. Check connection type
    • USB: plug direct into the Mac, no hub. Try different cable.
    • Wi‑Fi: make sure printer and Mac are on same network and band, 2.4 or 5 GHz.
    • Print the printer network config page from its panel and verify IP is not 169.x.x.x.

  7. Check for OS and firmware updates
    • Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update.
    • For the printer, run its built‑in update from the printer screen or vendor app.

If you post the exact error message and printer model, people here can narrow it down more. Right now, random errors across all apps usually point to either corrupt print system or bad drivers, so steps 1 to 3 tend to fix it for most folks.

3

If the Mac is freaking out in every app, there are a few more angles besides what @hoshikuzu already covered.

Here’s what I’d try next, in order:

  1. Confirm the “how to print” part is actually correct
    Sounds dumb, but it narrows stuff down. In any app (TextEdit is best for testing):

    • File > Print
    • In the print dialog, make sure:
      • The correct printer is selected at the top
      • Presets is set to “Default Settings” (no weird custom preset)
      • Paper Size matches what’s actually in the printer
        Try printing a 1‑page simple text doc, black & white.

  2. Look at the exact error in the print dialog
    A lot of people ignore the small red text. When it fails:

    • Click the little “Show Details” arrow if there is one
    • Note the precise error string (like “Printer is in use” / “Filter failed” / “Communication error” / “Hold for authentication”).
      Each of those points in a very different direction, so if it’s something like “Hold for authentication” the problem is not your printer at all, it’s credentials.

  3. Check for account or permissions issues
    Instead of only resetting the print system, check this stuff:

    • System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access / Files & Folders
    • If you’re using some security/cleanup/antivirus utility, temporarily disable it. Some of them break print filters on macOS.
    • If you’re on a work / managed Mac, check if a configuration profile is restricting printing:
      • System Settings > Privacy & Security > Profiles (or Profiles in older macOS). If your org locked down printers, random errors can be the side effect.

  4. Try printing via IP on purpose
    Even if the printer auto appears, I’d manually add it via IP to avoid flaky auto discovery:

    • Print a network config page from the printer panel
    • Grab its IP address
    • System Settings > Printers & Scanners > plus button
    • Go to IP tab
    • Address: that IP
    • Protocol: AirPrint (if available) or HP Jetdirect / Line Printer Daemon depending on printer
      This bypasses a lot of “Bonjour randomly feels like dying today” issues.

  5. Kill anything that likes to “manage” printers
    If you have:

    • VPN apps
    • Firewall apps (Little Snitch, Lulu, etc.)
    • Network filter tools
      Temporarily quit them and then try printing. Some of those quietly block the ports that printing over the network relies on.
      Same for third‑party “print helper” daemons from old drivers. If the errors started right after installing some vendor app, that’s a huge clue.

  6. Check the printer side for stupid stuff
    Not just the connection:

    • Correct paper size in the tray vs what macOS is sending (A4 vs Letter mismatch can trigger weird “random” errors on some models)
    • Printer not paused/offline in its own menu
    • No “Out of toner / out of paper” message that the Mac is misreporting as a generic error

  7. For super stubborn cases: delete print-related caches in your user
    Since @hoshikuzu suggested nuking the printing system globally, I’d go lighter first:

    • In Finder, Go > Go to Folder
    • Type: ~/Library/Caches
    • Look for anything starting with com.apple.print and move it to the trash
    • Log out / log back in and try again
      This hits user-level junk without wiping printers for the whole machine.

If you can grab the exact error text and mention what printer model plus macOS version you’re on, people can usually tell you “oh yeah, that’s the classic [X driver] bug” instead of guessing. Right now I’d bet on either network discovery flaking out or some third‑party security/driver thing intercepting the print job.

4

Skip the basics others covered and try targeting the stuff macOS quietly breaks behind the scenes.

1. Check for a broken print queue process

Sometimes the print daemon hangs and survives restarts:

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Run:
    cancel -a
sudo pkill -9 cupsd
  3. Then:
    sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.cups.cupsd
  4. Try printing again from TextEdit.

If that suddenly fixes it, the problem was the spooler, not the app or printer.

2. Inspect the job in the CUPS web interface

Apple still ships the CUPS admin page, just hides it.

  1. In a browser, go to:
    http://localhost:631
  2. If it says disabled, in Terminal run:
    sudo cupsctl WebInterface=yes
  3. Reload the page, check:
    • Jobs → see status for failed jobs.
    • Printers → click your printer, look at State and error log line.

The error text there is often more specific than what macOS shows.

3. Split “driver vs spooler” by printing a PDF to file first

This helps you tell if it is the document pipeline or the connection.

  1. In the print dialog, click the PDF drop‑down at the bottom.
  2. Choose “Save as PDF.”
  3. Open that PDF in Preview and try printing from Preview.
  • If exporting works but printing that PDF still fails, your driver / printer pipeline is at fault.
  • If exporting itself fails, the problem is earlier in the filter chain.

4. Try a completely different user environment

I disagree a bit with jumping into cache deletion too early. A cleaner test:

  1. Create a new local user:
    • System Settings → Users & Groups → add user.
  2. Log into that new account.
  3. Add the same printer and try to print a 1‑page test.

If the new user prints fine, your main account has corrupt prefs or conflicting software. Then you can:

  • Trash ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist
  • Also remove vendor‑specific prefs in ~/Library/Preferences that reference the printer brand.

5. Look specifically for “filter failed” in logs

Even if you do not see that text in the dialog, check Log:

  1. Open Console.
  2. Search for:
    • cupsd
    • your printer name.
  3. When you try to print and it fails, watch for lines about:
    • “pdftops”
    • “rasterto…”
    • “filter failed.”

This often means old vendor drivers are clashing with the built‑in macOS filters. In that case:

  • Uninstall any vendor driver package from /Library/Printers and /Library/Printers/PPDs.
  • Readd the printer and force AirPrint as the driver if possible.

6. If it is a USB printer: bypass hubs and reset USB plumbing

Random print errors over USB are often just flaky buses.

  • Connect the printer directly to the Mac, no hubs.
  • Use a different USB port and cable.
  • Zap the SMC / perform a shutdown with power unplugged for 60 seconds (on desktops) so USB controllers reset.
  • Then boot and test again.

7. Network printers: test raw connectivity

Even if @hoshikuzu and others went deep on setup, you should explicitly check the network path:

  • In Terminal:
    ping PRINTER_IP
    Let it run for 20+ packets. Any packet loss suggests network issues.
  • Then:
    nc -vz PRINTER_IP 631
nc -vz PRINTER_IP 9100
    631 is IPP, 9100 is JetDirect. If those fail, macOS is not the core problem.

8. Check for weird “defaults” that got set globally

CUPS lets you set strict defaults that can break jobs system‑wide:

lpoptions -p 'Printer_Name' -l

Look for anything that is “Not Installed” but forced as a default, like duplex units or trays you do not have. Reset them:

lpoptions -p 'Printer_Name' -r Duplex

or even:

lpoptions -x 'Printer_Name'

then readd the printer from System Settings.

On the product side, something like a clear “How To Print On Mac” guide is actually useful as a checklist when everything feels random.

Pros of a dedicated “How To Print On Mac” style guide:

  • Keeps all steps (from File → Print basics to CUPS and logs) in a single reference.
  • Good for repeating issues on work machines or shared family Macs.
  • Helps you quickly rule out user error vs driver vs network.

Cons:

  • If it’s generic, it may skip the more advanced CUPS and Terminal diagnostics you actually need.
  • Can go out of date with macOS UI changes.
  • Might focus too much on wizard‑style fixes and not enough on root cause.

Between what @hoshikuzu covered and the deeper CUPS / log checks above, you should be able to narrow it down to: driver conflict, broken spooler, user‑level corruption, or straight network trouble. Once you get the exact error from CUPS or Console, post that along with printer model and macOS version and the fix is usually very specific.