Ready: Connecting and Adding Your Printer
Before you can even think about printing something, you have to connect a printer to your Mac and tell OS X that the printer exists.
If you have a printer and are able to print documents already, you can skip ahead to the “Set: Setting Up Your Document with Page Setup” section. The info between here and there pertains only to setting up a brand-new printer — one that still has its manual.
Connecting your printer
Once again, I must remind you that you could connect your Mac to thousands of printer models, and each one is a little different from the next. In other words, if what you’re about to read doesn’t work with the printer you’re trying to connect, RTFM (Read the Fine Manual). It should tell you how to load your ink or toner cartridges.
That said, here are some very general steps to connect a printer to your Mac:
1. Connect the printer to your Mac with the cable snugly attached at both ends (printer and Mac).
For your printer to work, you have to somehow connect it to a data source. (Think of your phone — you can’t receive calls without some sort of connector between callers.)
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