How Mac Prints files

After you set up the printer, how do users print the files? How do you use the Mac to print the PDF file? It's very simple, you just choose File > Print from any app that you can print. You can also press ⌘p (command-p) shortcut keys. When you print a document, OS X displays a printed form from which you can set additional options for the print job.

The basic print form provides the following options:

Choose the target printer from the printer pop-up menu. If you do not see your printer, choose Add Printer from this menu.

Choose the printer preset that the print job applies to from the Presets menu. Presets are preconfigured combinations of printer feature options.

In the number of Copies field, enter the number of copies the printer should print.

Select the page you want to print from the page field, including printing a single page, all pages, or a specific range of pages.

The printed form also includes a preview of the print job (if the app supports this feature). Before printing, use the arrows in preview mode to view each page of the print job.

Click the Help button (?) in the lower-left corner of the print form to see more information about printing.

Use the PDF button to create a PDF version of the printout, rather than physically printing it. Hold down the button to see a menu with other options.

For more information about using the PDF feature, see the "Generate PDF Output" section of this article.

Click Cancel to exit the print form instead of printing it.

Clicking Print means accepting your current print settings and sending your document to the printer. When you click, your print job appears immediately in the printer queue.

Click the Show Details button to make more control over how you want to handle your printed items.

In addition to the details displayed in the standard printed form, the Details form also provides the following options:

Select the paper Size menu to match the paper in the printer based on the size of the printout. You can also create and manage custom paper sizes here.

With the orientation button, you can select portrait or landscape output.

Adjust the size of the printout by changing the value in the scale field. The print preview changes according to the zoom changes you have made.

The contents of the Apply Software and printer settings menu depend on the printer and application software that you use. Display specific printer-related features in this menu

Use the Save Presets option on the Presets menu to save your current settings so that you can easily apply them to future print jobs.

Click Hide details to restore the printed form to a shorter standard view.

Tip: Your image does not need to be larger than 360 dots per inch (dpi). Trying to print an image larger than this resolution requires a longer print time, more space to use on the boot drive, and no noticeable change in print quality.

Other Printing options

You can also manage your print jobs and print directly to a PDF file (instead of a printer). Click any of the following topics for more information.

Building and managing PDFs

Preview the print job in PDF format or store it as a PDF file (with metadata).

Clicking the "Pdf▾" button in any printer form displays the PDF workflow menu with the following options in its Drop-down menu:

"Open pdf in Preview" – a PDF file that generates a print job and opens it in the application preview.

"Save as PDF ..." – Create a PDF file of the print job and store it in the selected destination location, and add metadata to the PDF (title, author, subject, and keywords). Metadata is useful when you are using Spotlight.

Need a password to open a document

Require a password to copy text, images, and other content

Need a password to print a document

Clicking Security Options Opens the PDF Security Options dialog box, which provides the following options:

"Save As PostScript ..." – Generate a PostScript file for the print job and store it in the selected destination location.

Fax PDF – A PDF file that generates a print job and sends it to a fax device for delivery. Note: Requires Third-party fax devices that are compatible with OS X mountain Lion or OS X Lion.

Mailing PDF-Attaches the resulting print job PDF file to the new e-mail document. Add the e-mail recipient and send it.

Store PDF to Web Receipts folder-stores the generated print job PDF file in the ~/document/web receipts folder.

"Edit Menu ..." – Add/Remove print workflows. Check Automator for information about how to create a new print workflow.

Manage printer queues and printer Dock icons

The printer Dock icon is displayed immediately after the print job starts. Click the printer Dock icon to open the printer queue, which is a list of print jobs that are being printed, waiting, or paused. The print queue also displays information from the printer, for example, "The printer is not connected."

Pressing the CONTROL key while clicking the icon displays the Dock menu for the printer queue, as shown in the figure.

The labels on the printer queue icon include:

A red label with numbers indicates the number of print jobs in the printer queue, and the above example indicates that there are two print jobs.

A green label with a pause symbol indicates that the printer queue has been paused as shown above. Note: The green icon will no longer appear after the printer queue is restored.

A yellow label with a lightning bolt icon indicates a problem with the printer, for example, the printer is not currently connected to a MAC.

You can also open the print queue from the print and Scan panel of System Preferences. The following are examples of print queues:

From the print queue, you can perform the following actions:

Delete – Delete print jobs

Pause/Resume – Pause or resume a print job

Job information – Click to view printer options for print jobs

Pause/Resume – Pause or resume the printer queue

Consumable allowance – Click to view the printer's consumable allowance; options vary depending on the printer model

Printer settings – Click to view printer queue naming options and other options depending on the printer model

Printers/scanners-displays when connected to a "multifunction printer." Switch between two buttons to switch from "printer queue" to "scanner tool". See this article for more information about scanning.

Tip: Click a print job to highlight it, and then press the SPACEBAR to "quickly view" the print job, or click the arrow next to the job name.