One of the most common uses of most users who enjoy a Mac is editing text and PDF documents, after all it is one of the most demanded uses of computers. In this post we want to tell you how you can print those documents that you have developed if you have a printer at home or at your workplace, regardless of their format.
Connect your Mac to a printer
The first step, and also something essential to be able to print any type of document is to connect to a printer. To do this, you must add yours or the one you are going to use at that time to the printer list. To do this you have to click on System Preferences and click on Printers and Scanners.
Typically, when adding a printer, your Mac will use AirPrint to connect to it, or it will automatically download the printer software, commonly known as drivers. When installing the printer software, do it only and exclusively if the Mac has requested it, otherwise, do not do it.
There are many ways to add printers to your Mac, you can do it through USB, that is, by directly connecting the printer through a USB cable to your Mac. Another option is to connect the printer and the Mac through the WiFi network, In this way, you can print your documents without having to physically connect the Mac and the printer and without having to be in the same room as the printer. You can also add a network printer using its IP address, in which case the printer has to be compatible with one of the following printing protocols: AirPrint, HP Jetdirect (Socket), Line Printer Daemon (LPD) or Internet Printing Protocol (IPP ). Finally you can connect your printer and Mac via Bluetooth.
Once you have configured and added your printer to your Mac, you can print any type of document. Next we tell you how you can do it with word files, pdf, pages or even photographs.
Print a PDF from Preview
Any PDF file you have can be opened in macOS through Preview. If you have another program that can open PDF and you have set it as the default program to open these types of files, what you have to do is click on the file you want to print, right-click, select Open with and select Preview.
Once you have the file open with Preview, to print it you just have to click on File, located in the upper bar and scroll to the last option in the menu that says Print. Once you have done this you just have to modify the printing parameters to your liking and click Print.
Steps to print a document from Pages
In case the text document that you have developed has been done with the Native Apple Pages app and it is in this format, to print the document the steps are very simple.
First open the document with the Pages application. Once you have your pages document open, click File on the top menu and then scroll to the last option in the menu that says Print. At this time you just have to set the desired printing parameters and hit print.
So you can print documents with Word
Just like you can print documents with Pages, you can do the same with Word documents. In fact, the process is exactly the same. Open the document you want to print with Microsoft‘s Word application. Then go to the top bar and click on File. Scroll down the drop down menu and click Print. Finally, you just have to choose the desired printing parameters and click Print.
Take your photos by printer
The process for printing images from your Mac is the same as printing a PDF file. This is because the application that macOS uses by default to open the photos is Preview, and therefore, the process will be the same.
First you have to open the image with Preview. Once open, go to the top bar, click File and scroll to the bottom of the drop-down menu and click Print. Finally choose the parameters you want for printing and click Print.
Possible failures when printing
It is possible that when wanting to print a document or photograph errors will arise. Therefore, you have to review some very important points before you get ready to print. The first thing we recommend you check is the paper and ink, for this you have to go to your printer and check that you have enough paper to print the document you want and that the printer’s ink levels are also sufficient.
Another point that you have to check is the connection with your printer. As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, there are multiple options to connect your Mac with your printer, therefore, verify that the connection mode you have chosen is properly configured and that the connection between both devices exists.
Finally, when printing the document, check the printing parameters perfectly so that the result is just what you are looking for.