Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition

Mac Meets Printer

Printing has always been one of the Mac’s strong suits—and you’re about to find out why.

Setting Up a Printer

Setting up a printer is incredibly easy. The first time you want to print something, follow this guide:

1. Connect the printer to the Mac, and then turn the printer on.

   Inkjet printers connect to your USB jack. Laser printers hook up either to your USB jack or to your network (Ethernet or wireless).

2. Open the document you want to print. Choose File→Print. In the Print dialog box, choose your printer’s name from the Printer pop-up menu (or one of its submenus, if any, like Nearby Printers). See Figure 9-1.

   Cool! Wasn’t that easy? Very nice how the Mac autodiscovers, autoconfigures, and autolists almost any USB, FireWire, Bluetooth, or Bonjour printer.

   Have a nice afternoon. The End.

   Oh—unless your printer isn’t listed in the Printer pop-up menu. In that case, read on.

   Note

   “Nearby Printers” refers to printers that aren’t connected directly to your Mac but are accessible anyway: a printer connected to an Apple Time Capsule or an AirPort base station, certain network printers that speak Bonjour, or printers connected to other Macs that you’ve shared, as described later in this chapter.

3. From the Printer pop-up menu (Figure 9-1, top), choose Add Printer.

   A special setup window opens (Figure 9-1, bottom), which is even better at auto-detecting printers available to your Mac. If you see the printer’s name here, click it and then click Add.

   Figure 9-1. Top: To introduce your Mac ...