Helping you through your nightmares of printer issues…
…like adding a new printer.
We recently had a case where a student could not get her Mac to recognize her printer. A student who has deadlines for handing in papers is desperate and frantic the day before the deadline. You will find these helpful hints to be a good source when you are installing a new printer preferably before that deadline is upon you.
Before you get started on adding a printer – view link below!
Below are some helpful Apple Support Links to checkout.
Recommended Wi-Fi Printer settings
First and foremost when shopping for a new printer- make sure it is compatible with Mac OS X.
After your well thought out purchase -Before doing anything else, read printer manual, then read it again. Now you are on the road to becoming mentally prepared to install your printer.
Studiously follow the printer instructions by turning printer on and installing ink cartridges, adding paper as well as connecting printer to Mac. With Lion and Mountain Lion OS X, you may get a Dialog Box letting you know if your Mac wasn’t able to install a driver if recent updates have been made and new software must be downloaded. It is at this point that you may have discovered one hiccup installing the printer- so face it right now – The software for installing your new printer is probably out of date!
That said, now you know you may have to go to your Mac’s browser and look for your printer (make and model) Driver which will take the place of the outdated installation CD or downloaded software. This driver is the printers installation updated software. First try using the Apple Support link provided below to get that software. If this is not helpful- below the link are the manual installation directions for printer drivers.
Apple page for Printer software
- · You will type in the name of your printer-for instance- Hewlett Packard, Canon, etc. And then the model precisely as it is seen- Deskjet 3050A or PIXMA MG3122 etc., then use the word Driver. For instance- Search HP Deskjet 3050A Driver or whatever your printer is and look for the manufacturer’s support for printer driver.
- · Once you find the manufacturer website, you may have to select which printer model you have or select driver if offered to select.
- · Then make sure you know which Mac OS X operating system you have, Snow Leopard 10.6, Lion 10.7 or Mountain Lion 10.8. then click download.
After you get that software downloaded onto your Mac which may not automatically open up, select that download to open and choose installation and go through the steps it directs you to. You may have to refer to the Apple Links above for adding wireless printers.
Check to see if your printer is ready- open System Preference and look in Print & Scan for your new printer. Follow Printer’s manual instruction and print out something for a test.
You should be good to go.