How to Add a Printer to a Mac

Getting your printer set up as fast as possible always helps when you need to get down to business.

Wireless printing capabilities enable you to print whatever you want, wherever you want, as long as all of your devices share the same network. This makes the entire experience of home computing and printing far more convenient.

Of course, you may hit a few roadblocks along the way.

The process of getting everything set up can quickly become long and tedious, especially if you are unsure of exactly what you need to do. In these situations, it is always best to consult a guide or tutorial to make the process easier and faster.

That is just what we have in store for you. In this article, we will explain how to add a printer to a Mac.

We will help get you on your way to setting up a fully functional and highly capable home network.

We will touch on a few other things, too, but we will keep things equal parts concise and precise. Let’s take a look.

Setting Up Your Printer

We want to ensure that your home network meets the demands of your workflow and productivity. This means that everything needs to be correctly set up.

Before we show you how to add a printer to your Mac, let’s make sure that the printer itself is suitably configured.

1. Make sure your printer is plugged in and powered on. Everything else will come relatively quickly after this.
2. Determine whether your printer has: a. Wireless capabilities and b. A built-in menu screen on the device itself.

We are mainly concerned with the former, as it will determine how your printer will connect to your Mac and your network.

Connecting Your Printer to Your Mac

Now that your printer has been set up and turned on, you can connect it to your Mac device. There are two general ways of going about this.

Which method you choose will come down to your devices’ capabilities, as well as your personal preference.

Connecting Via USB

The ability to connect your printer to your Mac via USB is excellent if the printer lacks wireless capabilities or if you are not too concerned with the flexibility that a wireless network can provide.

1. Make sure the printer is turned on; then, prepare a USB cable that will connect the printer and your Mac device. Most printers will ship with at least one ready-to-use USB cord, but any USB cord will suffice as long as it is compatible with both devices.
2. Connect one end of the USB to the Mac device and the other to your printer.
3. Your printer should have now appeared on the menu screen, but if it does not, you may need to install a few drivers and other minor software updates. A CD should be packaged with your printer. It should contain all the necessary software you need to make your devices compatible.
4. Make use of the ‘Printing Sheet’ to determine whether or not your printer is ready. It should appear on the list provided but click on the ‘Add Printer’ button located on the same menu if it does not. A list of available printers will be displayed. Simply click on the one you want to use, and you are good to go.

Connecting Via Wi-Fi

If you would prefer a setup that provides a little bit more flexibility, then adding a printer to your network is the way to go.

This process uses wireless technology to allow for communication between all devices on your network.

1. Make sure that your printer has already been configured to join your WiFi network. To do this, connect the printer to your wireless router, enable the use of network sharing on your printer, then add it as a network printer. You will need administrator privileges to accomplish this.
2. On your Mac device, open up any file that can be printed — a PDF, photo, or text document will do — and then choose Print from the file menu. You will be greeted by another dialog wherein your desired printer should appear. If it does not, select ‘Add Printer’ from the same menu, and the Printer Setup Utility will open. Click the ‘Add’ button, then choose your printer from the list that appears.

After selecting your printer, it will be ready to use.

Conclusion

We hope this article will have been some help to you. Our guide should prove useful in properly setting up your printer and helping you get your home network set up.

We can only wish you the best of luck for the rest of this process, as many of the configurations will be determined by your specific device. Happy printing!