Adding a printer on a Mac

Standard Apple instructions can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh14004/mac

Adding the printer on a supported desktop Mac (iMac / Mac Mini / etc)

Desktop Macs are about to browse the Open Directory to install printers via our server (me-print):

From the Apple menu choose System Preferences (or System Settings on newer Macs).
From the View menu choose Printers & Scanners.
If the padlock icon in the lower left corner of the System Preferences window is locked, click it and enter an administrator name and password to unlock it.
Click the Add printer (+) icon at the bottom of the Printers pane to open the Add Printer window.
If the printer appears when the Default icon is selected, select it and skip to section Choosing the Printer Driver.
1. The screen shots below (from old and new versions of macOS) show an example of looking for a printer that is hosted on me-print. The list by default may show many printers; in that case it may be useful to use the search box in the top right hand corner to narrow down the list of printers to choose from - in the case shown we are narrowing our search to hsbpr printers.

Adding the printer on a supported Macbook (Air / Pro / etc) or unsupported Mac.

Both supported Macbooks and unsupported Macs are unable to browse the Open Directory; printers must be added via IP address instead. Please contact our Service Desk to obtain the IP address for your chosen printer, and follow the steps below:

Click the IP button on the toolbar.
IP printers have three printing protocols to choose from. Select the appropriate option for your printer. Note: If you pick a protocol other than HP Jetdirect, you may have to manually select the appropriate PPD and installable options.
- HP Jetdirect – Socket: Some HP and other printer manufacturers use this protocol. (see note at bottom of this page regarding Print Codes)
- Internet Printing Protocol – IPP: Modern printers and printer servers use this protocol.
- Line Printer Daemon – LPD: Earlier printers and print servers may use this protocol.
Click the Address field and enter the IP address of your printer.
Use "Generic PostScript Printer" to get basic printer functionality, or Select Software to install a driver (see below).

Choosing the Printer Driver

To obtain a full set of printing features you may need to install your printer's macOS driver.

macOS has various drivers which are included and kept up to date by Apple software updates (Printer Drivers available via Apple). If your driver is not available from Apple you will need to obtain it from the printer manufacturer's website.

At the stage of adding a printer, if your Mac is able to communicate with the printer, but it is not able to automatically determine the print driver needed, you will need to manually choose a driver by selecting "Choose a Driver..." > "Select Software..."

Enter your printer model in the search field to quickly find the appropriate driver.

If the model of printer is not listed, you will need to download it first from the printer manufacturer website.

Other alternatives are if your printer is a PostScript printer or PCL Laser printer, try the "Generic PostScript" or "PCL Laser printer" driver options. Generic printer drivers may not let you access all the features of your printer, so its is better to download the driver from the manufacture's website and use their driver.

Once your Mac finishes communicating with the printer, click OK/Add to create your printer queue.

NOTE: If you have added a printer via IP instead of from the (me-print) print server, then during the setup of the printer you may be asked what are installed options for that printer, eg: does it have a Stapler or Punch function, what trays does it have, does it have a finishing unit. If you are unsure regarding this please contact the service desk as we may be able to advise if it is a printer already attached to our print server (but in your case you need to to add it via IP).

Printers that require a print code

Some printers require user authentication or account tracking to be setup before the printer will print out any print jobs you send to it. For some printers you have to enter this code on the printers touch screen, on others this can be entered when you print from your Mac. This will depend on the model of printer you are using and how it has been setup. On a Mac print properties are handled within each app, so typically you will need to open an app, e.g. Word then set the printer properties. Some apps do not seem to support setting printer codes, e.g. Adobe Reader & TextEdit will not allow you to set a print code for a Konica Minolta device, but if the print code has been set up in a different app (Word) then Adobe Reader or TextEdit will use the print code correctly.

The following screenshot shows a large multi-function printer added to the available printers on a given Mac.

You will notice that if you look at printer properties here there are no relevant printer properties that can be changed.

To enter an authentication code when printing from a mac, this typically needs to be done each time you print. The following screen shot shows the print dialog box when you select Print from within any given program (e.g. Word, Mail, etc)

From here you need to change the selection from Copies & Pages tab to a selection which allows you to enter user authentication or print codes.

This will depend on the printer model and driver you are using. The screen shot below shows an example tab to find the setting on.

After entering the appropriate code, you will now be able to print. Please note depending on printer model and driver you might need enter this code every time you print from a Mac.

NOTE: If you have added your printer via IP then you may need to change the protocol to HP Jetdirect - Socket back where you added the printer(see top of this page); then the Account Track or similar option appears under Output Method. We have seen this on non HP printers.