Teach Yourself VISUALLY MacBook Pro, 2nd Edition (2014)
Part IV. Taking MacBook Pro Further
Your MacBook Pro can help you get things done, such as printing documents and managing your contacts and calendars. To keep it working well, you should know how to maintain it and troubleshoot problems. You can use iTunes to enjoy audio and video and to sync your iOS devices with your MacBook Pro.
Chapter 14. Printing on Paper or Electronically
Understanding Printers
Although we live in an electronic world, you will likely need to print documents from your MacBook Pro. The two most common types of printers are inkjet printers and laser printers. You can connect a printer to your MacBook Pro in several ways. You can make a direct connection using either a USB cable or an Ethernet cable and an adapter. You can print wirelessly over a network to a printer connected to a device such as an Apple AirPort. Or you can print directly between the computer and a wireless printer.
Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers create text and graphics by spraying droplets of ink on paper in various combinations. Inkjet printers produce high-quality output, especially when using the appropriate paper. These printers are inexpensive and many offer features such as scanning and faxing. Inkjet printers are usually less expensive than laser printers initially, but they consume large amounts of ink, which is expensive. You can expect to pay a significant portion of the purchase price of the printer each time you replace one or more ink cartridges; in some cases, you may pay more for new cartridges than you do for a new printer. Still, for many people, inkjet printers make a lot of sense.
Laser Printers
Laser printers use a laser, mirrors, and an imaging drum to apply toner to paper. Laser printers produce very high quality output and are fast relative to inkjet printers. Although a laser printer is typically more expensive than an inkjet printer, the cost per page of a laser printer can actually be significantly less than that of an inkjet printer. Like inkjet printers, many laser printers print in color. With some careful shopping, you can often get a color laser printer for not much more than an inkjet printer.
Printer Connections
You can connect a MacBook Pro to a printer in three ways. First, some printers use USB to communicate. Second, networkable printers have an Ethernet port that you use to connect the printer to the network your MacBook Pro is on. Third, and most convenient, you can connect wirelessly. Some printers support wireless connections directly; however, you can connect a printer to an AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, or AirPort Time Capsule by using an Ethernet port or its USB port to print to it wirelessly.
Printer Sharing
If you have more than one computer, you can share the same printer with all the computers over a wired or wireless network. You can connect the shared printer directly to a Mac through USB or Ethernet, but it is usually better to connect the printer to an AirPort, which makes the printer available on the network even when the Mac is not running. See Chapter 7 for information about setting up a wireless network.
Adobe invented the Portable Document Format — PDF — as a means to share and print documents that do not depend on the specific applications or fonts installed on a computer. PDF is the standard format for electronic documents, no matter how they are distributed. You can read PDF documents using the Preview application, and you can print any document to the PDF format so that you can easily share it with others through e-mail or over the web.
Install and Configure a USB Printer
Connecting a USB printer directly to a MacBook Pro is simple. After you have connected the printer to your MacBook Pro, you need to configure your computer to use it. To print to a specific printer, your MacBook Pro must have that printer's driver software installed on it. In most cases, OS X downloads the printer's current software and installs the appropriate software automatically as soon as you add the printer to your computer. If not, you can download the printer's software from the manufacturer's website, install the software, and then install the printer.
Install and Configure a USB Printer
Connect the printer to a power source and turn it on.
Connect the printer to the MacBook Pro using a USB cable.
Click Apple (
).
The Apple menu opens.
Click System Preferences.
The System Preferences window opens.
Click Printers & Scanners.
The Printers & Scanners pane opens.
Click Add (
).
Click Add Printer or Scanner.
The Add dialog opens.
Click the printer you connected with the USB cable.
Note: If you are prompted to download and install software, you can click Install to do so now or click Not Now and the software will be installed after step 11.
Optionally, change the printer's default name to a descriptive name. For example, you might type Monochrome Printer or Main Color Printer.
Optionally, type a description of the printer's. For example, type MacBook Pro.
Click Add.
Your MacBook Pro downloads and installs any necessary software.
A The printer appears in the Printers & Scanners pane.
If you want the printer to be the default, click the Default printer pop-up menu (
) and select the printer.
Click the Default paper size pop-up menu () and select the default paper size to use.
Click Close (
).
The System Preferences window closes.
The printer is ready to use.
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Can I use any printer with a MacBook Pro?
Not quite, but you can use any printer that has OS X–compatible drivers. Most printers do have such drivers available, and OS X either includes them or downloads them for you automatically. The printer must also offer a connection your MacBook Pro can use, such as USB, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet; most printers offer one or more of these, so you can usually connect easily enough.
Install and Configure a Network Printer
Your MacBook Pro is wireless, so you do not have to use a cable to print. Fortunately, many printers are designed to connect to a network so that any computer that can connect to that network can use the printer. This is especially useful when a switch or router provides a wireless network.
One way to connect a printer to your network is by using Ethernet. This provides fast and trouble-free connections. The only downside is that the printer has to be within cable range of a switch or router, such as an AirPort Extreme or an Ethernet switch, on the network.
Install and Configure a Network Printer
Connect the printer to a power source and turn it on.
Connect the printer to a switch or router using an Ethernet cable.
Connect the MacBook Pro to the same network using Wi-Fi or an Ethernet adapter and Ethernet cable.
Control+click System Preferences (
) on the Dock.
The System Preferences contextual menu opens.
Click Printers & Scanners.
Note: If System Preferences does not appear on the dock, click Apple () and System Preferences. In the System Preferences window, click Printers & Scanners.
The Printers & Scanners pane appears.
Click Add ().
Select the printer you want to use.
A OS X downloads and installs the software for the printer, if necessary.
Note: If your printer has configurable options, a dialog opens. Choose settings and then click OK.
B The printer appears in the Printers & Scanners pane.
If you want the printer to be the default, click the Default printer pop-up menu () and select the printer.
Click the Default paper size pop-up menu () and select the default paper size to use.
Click Close ().
The System Preferences window closes.
The printer is ready to use.
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What is Bonjour?
Bonjour is the OS X network discovery technology. When a device can use Bonjour, it broadcasts its identity on the network. When you connect your MacBook Pro to that network to search for a device, such as a printer, it discovers Bonjour devices automatically.
Should I buy an inkjet printer or a laser printer?
If you print relatively few pages or you mostly print photos, an inkjet printer is usually your best option. But if you print a lot or print mostly text documents, a laser printer will save you money over the long run. For the ultimate in printing, get a color laser printer.
Print to Paper
With at least one printer connected to your MacBook Pro, you are ready to print. The steps to start the print process are the same, regardless of what type of printer you are using. However, each printer offers its own set of options, so the configuration for your print job will depend on your type of printer. After you print to a printer the first time, you will often use the same settings, so you can just skip the configuration of options.
Print to Paper
With a document open, click File and select Print.
A The Print sheet appears and displays a preview.
Select the printer you want to use from the Printer menu.
Set the number of copies.
Click the Pages pop-up menu () and select the number of pages you want to print.
If you are ready to print, click Print and skip the rest of these steps.
To select more printing options, click Show Details.
To preview the document, click Forward (
) or Back (
).
To print specific pages, select From (
changes to 
) and type the starting and ending pages in the boxes.
Click the pop-up menu () and select Cover Page.
Configure the cover page options.
Click the pop-up menu () and select Paper Handling.
Configure the paper handling options. For example, you might want to print only odd pages or only even pages, or reverse the page order.
Note: The details and options you see depend on the specific printer you are using. Explore the menus and options for your printer to see your choices.
Click the pop-up menu () and select Layout.
Configure the layout options. For example, you might need to change the number of document pages printed on each sheet of paper and specify the direction in which to lay them out.
Click Print.
The Print sheet closes.
The document prints to the selected printer using the options you chose.
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How do I print only specific pages?
In the Print sheet, select From ( changes to ). In the From box, type the page at which you want to start printing. In the to box, type the page at which you want to stop printing. Complete the rest of the print process; only the pages in the range you selected will print.
How can I monitor and control printing?
When you print, an application with the name of the printer you are using opens. In this application, you can see the status of all the print jobs sent to the printer. You can also select a print job and click Pause to stop it, Delete to remove it, and so on.
Print to PDF
The Portable Document Format, or PDF, is a great way to distribute documents you create to other people. This is because PDF files appear correctly on any computer equipped with a PDF reader application, regardless of the fonts installed on it, and people cannot easily change PDF documents you create. OS X enables you to create a PDF file from any document. The filename extension for PDFs is .pdf. It is added automatically; do not change it.
Print to PDF
Open the document from which you want to create a PDF file.
Press 
+
or click File and select Print.
Click PDF.
Select Save as PDF.
Type a name for the PDF file you are creating.
Click Tags and then click each tag you want to apply to the PDF.
Click the Where pop-up menu () and then click the location in which you want to save the PDF file.
Type a title for the PDF file.
Type the author's name.
Type an additional subject in the Subject field.
Type keywords used during Spotlight and other searches in the Keywords field using commas to separate the keywords.
To set passwords for the PDF file, click Security Options.
The PDF Security Options dialog opens.
To require a password to open the PDF file, select the Require password to open document check box (
changes to 
) and type the password in the Password and Verify fields.
To require a password to copy content from the document, select the Require password to copy text, images and other content check box ( changes to ) and type the password in the Password and Verify fields.
To require a password to print a document, select the Require password to print document check box ( changes to ) and type the password in the Password and Verify fields.
Click OK.
The PDF Security Options dialog closes, and the Save As PDF dialog reappears.
Click Save.
The application creates the PDF file.
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What applications can open a PDF document?
By default, PDF documents open in the OS X Preview application, which provides the basic set of tools you need to view and print them. A number of other applications can open PDF files as well, most notably the free Adobe Reader application, available athttp://get.adobe.com/reader/. Reader offers many features for viewing and working with PDF documents.