Printing on your Mac is easy. Hit the Print button or press Command + P, and whatever you need will be printed. But are you aware of all the printing tricks?
Here are all the printing-related tricks you must know so you can use your Mac to the fullest.
Print Both Sides
You can enhance the presentation of your documents by learning how to print on both sides Mac. If you use a printer that you have been using for ten years or so, the printer will probably have double sided printing capability.
If you are printing double sided on Word, go to the menu bar > click Print > click Copies & Pages > Layout > click Two-Sided > Long-Edge Binding > select Print.
On PDFs, you can print double sided by opening the file in the menu bar > clicking Print > checking the two-sided box in the new window > clicking Print.
You can print front and back with any printer on Mac by opening System Preferences > Printers & Scanners > selecting your printer > clicking Options & Supplies > checking the Double Printing Unit feature in Options > clicking OK.
Print Screen
On Mac, there’s no single print screen command. But there is a workaround. If you want to print your screen’s contents, tap Command + Shift + 3. A picture of the desktop contents will get saved on your Desktop. Then, you can print the file by opening Preview. Or you can drag the file to the Dock icon.
Also, you can print different elements of what’s on your screen. For instance, press Command + Shift + 4 to define the captured area or Command + Shift + 4 + Spacebar to choose and capture a specific app window. Then, you can print it from within Preview.
Print From Spotlight Search
If you want to print something but don’t know where the file is on your Mac, you can use Siri or Spotlight to find the file. Then, open it and print it from there.
Print From the Dock
Printing from the Dock means you don’t need to open documents to print them. Instead, you can print from the document icon by opening Finder and dragging and dropping the icon.
Go to System Preferences > click Printers & Scanners > go through the Printers list and choose the printer you wish to use > drag and drop the printer icon from the list to the Dock > the icon for the printer will appear in the Dock > quit System Preferences.
In the future, you can drag and drop items to print them in the Dock. However, you will not see the usual print tools when you drop the items. Instead, you will notice the printer’s management window, where you can print or cancel printing according to your needs.
Print Multiple Items at Once
Is there a huge amount of items that you want to print at once? Then, if you don’t want to wait or don’t have the time to wait, you can avoid opening each document before printing them.
In System Preferences, you must open Printers & Scanners > choose the printer you want to use from the list of available printers > click the Open Print Queue option > the Print Queue for the specific printer will open. Then you can drag and drop the items you want to print into the Print Queue.
Finally, your computer will open each item, print them, and close the app.
Alternatively, you can choose the items you want to print in Finder, press Command + P, or go to File > Print.
Jump the Queue
Do you work in a shared office space? Do you share a selection of printers with others on the same network? If so, this tip can be useful and save you time and effort.
Sometimes, your printing job might get stuck and be behind a lengthy queue if you have assigned it to one of the shared printers. Luckily, you can create a printer pool to jump the queue.
Navigate to the System Preferences app > click Printers & Scanners > choose all the shared printers in the office that you use > click the first one > hold down Command and select additional ones. Then, click Create Printer Pool and give it a name.
Whenever you print in the future, you must remember to choose the pool, and your print will be completed using the available printer from the collection.
You can print multiple copies of the same document individually to the pool. Doing this will manage the job with the first available printer. Therefore, your copies will be printed at once across the print pool.
The Bottom Line
You need to know these printing secrets to get the most out of your Mac. Knowing these tricks will help you stay ahead in the Mac printing game and finish your work faster.
So the next time you are using your Mac to print items, keep these tricks in mind.