How to troubleshoot Office printing issues in Mac OS X

This article presents general troubleshooting steps that you can use to resolve a problem that you may experience when you print your document from a Microsoft Office for Mac program that is running on Mac OS X.

If you cannot print at all from a Microsoft Office for Mac program, try the following methods in the order they are presented.

Install all available OS X updates

To obtain the Mac OS X 10.1.x updates, visit the following Apple Computer Inc. Web site: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

The Mac OS X 10.1.x updates resolved or reduced several of the issues that may occur when you print in OS X 10.1. Several of these incremental releases have included improvements to the print architecture.

Print a new document

To test whether the problem is occurring with a specific document or with all documents, print a new document. This test also can indicate whether an unusual character, formatting, or object in the original document may be causing the printing problem.

Note These steps use Microsoft Word, but the steps can be generalized to all Office for Mac programs.

To test a new document, follow these steps:

1. Start Word.
2. On the File menu, click New Blank Document.
3. In the new document, insert at least one line of text in a font that is installed in Users/user name/Library/Fonts.
4. On the File menu, click Print.
5. In the Print dialog box, verify that the correct printer is selected and that the settings are appropriate for that printer. Then, click Print.

If the new document is printed, you must test the original document for possible damage. For more information about how to troubleshoot damaged documents, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Note If you cannot print the images in a document, make sure that the Drawing Objects option is selected. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Word menu, click Preferences.
2. On the Print tab, click to select the Drawing objects check box.

Use another font

To determine whether the font in your original document is damaged or is incompatible with the operating system or the printer, try to change the font or fonts in the document. If changing the font corrects the problem, reinstall the font, or contact the font manufacturer or printer manufacturer to inquire about issues with the font printing to your particular printer.

Print from another program

To test whether another program can communicate with the printer and whether the printer driver is functioning, try to print from another program.

Print from the Preview program

Unlike in Mac OS 9, where print preview is typically handled by the program that you use to create your document, print preview in Mac OS X is typically handled by the Preview program.

When you transfer a document to the Preview program by following these steps, the document is converted to a PDF file:

1. In the Print dialog box, click Preview.
   
   Note When you click Preview, the Preview program starts. When the program starts, the document is converted to a PDF file.
2. When the document appears in the Preview program, click Print on the File menu.
3. In the Print dialog box, verify that a printer is selected and that the settings under Saved Settings are appropriate for that printer. Then, click Print.

If the Preview program cannot open your document, but it can print other documents without any problems, try to save your document as a PDF file. Saving the document as a PDF file tests the ability of the printer driver to output data to a file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the document that you are having trouble printing. On the File menu, click Print.
2. In the Copies & Pages list, click Output Options.
3. In the Output Options area, select the Save as File check box. In the Format list, click PDF, and then click Save.
4. In the Save dialog box, type a name, and then select a location for the file. Click Save.
5. Try to print the PDF file by using the Preview program.

Print from TextEdit

TextEdit is a basic text-editing utility that is included with Mac OS X. TextEdit can be found at the following location: Double-click TextEdit, type some text, and then try to print the document. If TextEdit cannot print, either the printer driver or the printer may be causing the problem.

Update the printer driver

In Mac OS 10.3.x and later versions, you must find the name and version of the printer driver for your printer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Utilities.
2. Double-click Print Setup Utility.
3. Double-click the name of your printer in the Printer list.
4. In the printer_name menu, click About printer_name.

This will display the name and version of the printer driver.

If the name of the printer is different from the name that is on your physical printer, you may not be using the correct driver version for your printer.

Visit the Web site of the printer manufacturer to see whether there is a newer printer driver for your model of printer. If a newer printer driver is available for your printer, download and install the updated printer driver. For more information about printer manufacturers, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Delete and add the printer

To delete and add the printer, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Utilities.
2. Double-click Print Setup Utility.
3. Click to select your printer in the Printer list.
4. Click Delete.
5. Click Add.
6. In the Connection Method list, click the connection method that is used by your printer.
7. In the Printer list, click the printer that you want to add, and then click Add.

Print by using a Gimp-Print driver

You can print to your printer by creating a Gimp-Print driver. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Utilities on the Go menu.
2. Double-click Print Setup Utility.
3. Press the OPTION key, and then click Add.
4. In the Connection Method list, click Advanced.
5. In the Device list, click the method that is used to connect to your printer.
6. Type a name for the printer in the Device Name box.
7. Type the URL path for the printer in the Device URL box.
8. Click the printer model in the Printer Model list.

The addition of the Gimp-Print drivers is a new feature of Mac OS 10.3. Mac OS 10.2.x users will need additional software called ESP Ghostscript to use the Gimp-Print drivers.

To obtain ESP Ghostscript and to learn more about Gimp-Print, visit the following Gimp-Print Web site: Note On the Web site that appears after you click this link, click the "Gimp-Print web page for OS X" link in the “Macintosh OS X Users!” section.

Print to a different printer

If you have a second printer that is connected to your computer, follow these steps:

1. In Word, open the document that you are having trouble printing.
2. On the File menu, click Print.
3. In the Print dialog box, click the name of the appropriate printer in the Printer list.
4. Click Print.

If you can print the document to the second printer, the problem may be with the first printer and the software that is available for it. For additional troubleshooting, contact the printer manufacturer about the behavior. For more information about printer manufacturers, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Replace the printer preference files

Corrupted printer preference files may cause printing issues. To replace the printer preference files, follow these steps:

1. On the desktop, click File, click New Folder, type Print Prefs, and then press RETURN.
2. On the Go menu, click Home.
3. Double-click Library, and then double-click Preferences.
4. Hold down the Apple key, and then click each com.apple.print.*.plist file. For example, hold down the Apple key, click com.apple.print.PrintCenter.plist, and then click com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist. In this example, the com.apple.print.PrintCenter.plist and com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist files should be highlighted.
5. Drag the files that you highlighted in step 4 to the Print Prefs folder that you created in step 1.
6. On the Apple menu, click Restart, and then click Restart.
7. Try to print from a Microsoft Office for Mac program.

Note If you cannot print from an Office for Mac program, drag the files from the Print Prefs folder on the desktop to the /Library/Preferences folder.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.