With paper usage having lessened in contempo years, the price of printers has dropped dramatically. You tin now choice up a decent all-in-one model for less than $50 and a quality laser printer for under $100.

Merely more things being done digitally doesn't brand printers whatsoever less of import — physical documents still demand to be sent, photos need press, and many businesses adopt hard copies of invoices. So there's the demand to print things like concert tickets, shipping labels, and boarding passes.

What we're getting at is that printers aren't going anywhere any fourth dimension before long.

In this article, we're going to walk yous through how to put a printer to work. Nosotros'll expect at:

  • How to connect a printer to your Mac
  • How to find a printer IP accost on a Mac
  • How to print wirelessly from your Mac

Earlier nosotros get into setting up a printer, though, information technology's best if you remove any unused printers from the Mac y'all're using.

Note: If there no printers previously installed on your organization you lot tin skip this adjacent section and spring straight into how to connect a printer.

Removing an unused printer

Merely printers that you'll be using need to be connected to your Mac. Unused printers take up unnecessary space and might conflict with any new device that you lot install. Y'all tin can remove a printer manually from within Printers & Scanners or with a tool like CleanMyMac X. The latter is the preferred option but nosotros'll run yous through both methods.

Removing an unused printer manually

Printers tin be deleted manually in the post-obit way:

  1. Get to Organization Preferences > Printers & Scanners.
  2. Select the printer from the listing and click on the - button.
removing-unused-printer-mac

Removing a printer with CleanMyMac X

While the manual method is straightforward, it does not guarantee that all of the files associated with a printer are removed from your system. Files and documentation tin can be left backside, taking upwards infinite that new printers should be occupying.

CleanMyMac 10 removes every trace of a printer from your Mac. And so, remove a printer from the listing in Printers & Scanners, then give CleanMyMac X a run through to rid your estimator of any files that are left backside.

The easiest way to do this is with a System Junk make clean. This scans your system for broken and outdated files for removal.

  1. Download CleanMyMac X (for gratis!).
  2. Launch the app and select System Junk from the sidebar.
  3. Hit Scan and wait while CleanMyMac X scans your organization.
  4. Hitting Clean.

You're all done and set to add a fresh printer to your arrangement.

How to connect a printer to your Mac

How you lot connect a printer to your Mac really depends on what kind of printer you're using. If the printer is a newer model in that location's every take chances that it supports AirPrint, in which case you lot can be prepare up and printing in moments. If not, yous'll need the printer drivers, which you'll have to find on your system or download from the Spider web.

How to add together a Wi-Fi printer

Before y'all tin can set a printer on your Mac y'all'll need to connect information technology to the Wi-Fi network. If the printer has a built-in brandish, utilize this to enter the name and password of the Wi-Fi network (yous'll detect these details on the bottom of your primary router).

If the printer uses Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), you'll demand to refer to the router'southward documentation for details on how a WPS printer can be added. If the router is an Aerodrome Base Station, follow these instructions from Apple:

1. Open AirPort Utility, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.

2. Select your base station in AirPort Utility, and then enter the base station password, if prompted.

3. From the menu bar, choose Base Station > Add together WPS Printer.

4. Select either "First endeavor" or "PIN" as the blazon of WPS connectedness to allow. And then click Continue.

If you lot selected "First endeavour," push the WPS push on the printer. When the printer'due south MAC Address appears in Airdrome Utility, click Washed.

If you lot selected "Pivot," enter the printer'south Pin number, which should be listed in the printer's documentation. Then click Go along. When the printer'southward MAC Address appears in AirPort Utility, click Done.

five. Quit Drome Utility.

add-printer-airport-utility

Once your printer is hooked up to the Wi-Fi, connecting it to your Mac is easy:

  1. Become to Arrangement Preferences > Printers & Scanners, and then click the + button at the lesser of the list.
  2. Exit the Default tab selected and let your Mac search for printers continued to the WiFi network.
  3. Click on your printer from the list. If the printer supports AirPrint it will show opposite Utilise.
  4. Click on Add together Now.

If the printer doesn't support AirPrint, you'll need to install the necessary drivers.

  1. Click on the proper noun of the printer in the list.
  2. Click Add to download the drivers from Apple tree'southward servers.
  3. Click Add again to add together the printer.

If the drivers you need aren't available on Apple'south servers you'll need to download them from the manufacturer's website. Once installed, you'll be able to add the printer from the Printers & Scanners window.

How to add a network printer

Y'all tin can add a network printer in the same fashion that you add a wireless printer. If the printer is connected by Ethernet or Wi-Fi your Mac volition make it available to add from the Default tab in Printers & Scanners.

If at that place isn't an Ethernet or Wi-Fi option, connect the printer to a Mac on the network or directly into the router via USB and add information technology from Printers & Scanners that way.

How to observe a printer IP address on a Mac

If a printer doesn't bear witness up in the Default tab of Printers & Scanners you might have to connect it via the IP tab. To do this y'all'll need to find the printer IP address.

The IP can be institute by going to any networked Mac that is configured to the printer and using the Bonjour Browser. This should be enabled by default in Safari. If not, you can enable it by going to Preferences > Advanced and select either "Include Bonjour in the Bookmarks bill of fare" or "Include Bonjour in the Favourites bar."

Yous can also open up the Safari browser and go to http://localhost:631/printers/ to see a listing of all printers.

One time you take the IP, enter it in the Address field in the IP tab in Printers & Scanners. Give the printer a name, select the printer from the driblet-downward listing, and so click Add.

How to print wirelessly from your Mac

To commencement printing to a wireless printer yous'll demand to configure the printer settings. Y'all tin do this by going to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and clicking on the printer from the list. From here, you'll exist able to set the printer equally default and choose the paper size.

To print, simply go to File > Print or press Control+P. Cull your printer from the popular-upwards menu and configure the number of copies and specific pages.

Hitting the Print button volition send your prints to the impress queue, which automatically go to the printer. By going to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and selecting your printer, you lot can open up the print queue and pause, resume, or delete jobs. Here is where you tin can also go along an centre on ink levels.

Top Tip: Before going all in with a multiple page print, test your printer past creating a examination document in TextEdit.

Such is the simplicity of Mac that adding and removing printers and performing printing tasks is a straightforward task. Merely call back: when removing a printer from your system, use CleanMyMac X to ensure all files linked to the printer are completely removed from your system to avoid conflict. CleanMyMac Ten is a leading Mac utility tool developed to help you rid your organisation of old and outdated files in a few clicks.