Printing and Printing Options

After the page parameters have been established, you will need to select Print... from an application’s File menu (z-P), which produces the Print dialog, a GUI interface for configuring printing options. The Print dialog lets you select printers and their configuration options as well as preview, print, fax, or create a PDF of a document.

Adding a printer

If you don’t have a local USB printer recognized by Mac OS X, the first time you print, the Print dialog says No Printer Selected in the Printer pop-up menu, as shown in Figure 9-2. Proceed as follows:

Figure 9-2: Add a printer.

1. Select Edit Printer List... from the Printer pop-up menu to open the Print Setup Utility. You will be presented with a dialog that states: You have no printers available. Would you like to add to your printer list now?

2. Click the Add... button to display the available printers, as shown in Figure 9-3.

   
   Figure 9-3: The Printer List sheet facilitates the selection of printers.

3. From the top pop-up menu, select one of the following:

   • AppleTalk to connect to an AppleTalk enabled printer over a network as depicted in Figure 9-4. In order to connect to an AppleTalk-based printer, the AppleTalk networking protocol must first be enabled within the Network pane of System Preferences. If it is not, Mac OS 10.3 will automatically enable AppleTalk on your behalf. When you select a printer, the print Setup utility will then attempt to determine the printer type and bind the corresponding printer description to your selection. You can also manually select the appropriate printer description or, if your network is configured for it, a different AppleTalk zone.

     
     Figure 9-4: AppleTalk may be getting long in the tooth, but it’s still a common protocol found on most Macintosh networks.

   • Open Directory to list printers and printer queues that are available through NetInfo or LDAP directory services. Directory services should come into play in larger and more structured networking environments only.

   • IP Printing if you wish to connect to a printer via Internet protocols such as line printer daemon (LPD), line print remote (LPR), and Internet printing protocol (IPP). To use IP Printing, your Mac will require a valid IP address, which is configured in the Network pane of System Preferences. We cover this maneuver in Chapter 13. You will also be required to input the intended printer’s IP address or domain name server (DNS) name, as well as specify the model of the printer. Figure 9-5 shows the IP Printing window.

     
     Figure 9-5: Select IP Printing from the pop-up menu to connect to a printer by specifying the printers DNS name.

   • Rendezvous to connect to Rendezvous-equipped printers connected to a network. Rendezvous is a networking protocol that allows automatic discovery, connectivity, and configuration of Rendezvous-aware applications and devices via the Zeroconf standard.

   • USB if your Mac is connected to a USB printer and the printer requires manual configuration.

   • Windows Printing to utilize a windows (SMB) printer on a network.

4. Click the Add button to add the printer to your available printer list. The bottom portion of the menu provides the ability to select various manufacturer-specific modes of connectivity. The choices include, but are not limited to, Epson AppleTalk, Epson FireWire, Epson USB, HP IP Printing, and Lexmark Inkjet Networking.

To remove a printer, just select the printer you want to delete in the Print Center’s list and click the Delete button.

Setting print options

After the printer has been configured, clicking on the unlabeled pop-up menu in the Print dialog, displays a list of print options that are for your selected printer, as shown in Figure 9-6.

Figure 9-6: Although I do not have a name, I am central to printing!

Depending upon the option selected, the Print dialog changes its vertical size similarly to the behavior of the panes in the System Preferences application. The choices presented in this pop-up menu vary depending on the model of printer selected in the Printer pop-up menu. The following selections are likely to be present, in addition to a number of application-specific and printer-specific choices:

• Copies & Pages: Allows you to specify the number of copies desired. You can also indicate whether to collate the printout, and in what manner it should be output — one full copy followed by the next, or all the copies of each page to print together. Here you can also specify whether you want all pages of the document printed, just a specific range, or reverse the order of how a document should print. For example, you can just specify the ending page in the From box and beginning page in the To box to print from the last page to the first page of a document.

• Output Options: Allows you to save a file as a PDF (.pdf) or, if the printer you are using supports PostScript, save a file as a PostScript file (.ps). Using proprietary software supplied by the printer’s manufacturer, some printers support the ability to print PostScript files independently of any print command. PostScript files can also be converted into PDFs using the Preview application. You can use PDF files as a means of distributing documents electronically via email and file servers.

  Tip

  If you don’t have access to a PostScript printer and you desire to output a PostScript file, it is possible to still create one. You will need to create a virtual PostScript printer. To do so, open the Print Setup utility, add an IP printer, and type localhost in the Printer Address field. Name your virtual PostScript printer accordingly in the Queue Name field.

• Imaging Options: Allows you to select paper size and scale the image or crop the image to fit the indicated paper size.

• Scheduler: Allows you to specify at what time a printout should occur.

• ColorSync: Allows you to configure ColorSync output options without modifying the colors in a document.

• Cover Page: Allows you to select a preconfigured print-job cover page, indicate whether to print it before or after the document, and indicate billing info.

• Error Handling: Allows you to configure Mac OS X to print error reports, which may be useful in troubleshooting PostScript errors.

• Two-Sided Printing/Duplex: Allows you to indicate the use of both sides of the paper as well as the orientation of the output for binding purposes.

• Paper Type/Quality: Allows you to tell the printer whether to print in color or black and white, what type of media (paper, film, or transparencies) is being used, and whether to emphasize speed or quality.

• Print Driver Information: Allows you to obtain information about the version of the print driver that is being used.

• Summary: Allows you to see a summarized report of your settings for all the printer options that are available.

Most LaserWriter drivers will offer at least some of the following additional choices:

• Paper Feed: Allows you to specify the location from where the paper feeds. Set the pages to come from the same source or click the “First page from” radio button to choose a specific source for the first page, as well as a source for the remaining pages.

• Error Handling: Enables you to indicate whether you want a detailed report of any PostScript errors. You can also specify whether to switch trays if one runs out of paper and the printer has more than one tray available.

Applications often have at least one application-specific print option choice. For example, when printing from Microsoft’s Word, there is a Microsoft Word option in the unlabeled pop-up menu in the Print dialog. In this instance, the applications-specific option provides a more granular control over what is being printed, as shown in Figure 9-7.

Figure 9-7: All pages, odd pages, even pages, it’s all good.

In addition to the selections available in the unlabeled pop-up menu, the Print dialog also contains the following:

• Presets: This pop-up menu allows you to save and name groups of print options from the unlabeled menu in the Print dialog. This permits the quick selection of a group of print options without individually selecting them. To save the current settings for the print job, click the Presets pop-up menu and choose Save As.... You can use the Rename command on the Presets pop-up menu to rename a saved preset if you want to change its name. In future print sessions, that choice appears in the Presets pop-up menu at the top of the Print dialog.

• Preview: This button creates a temporary PDF file, which is then opened in the Preview application for perusal. If you like, you can save the file from within Preview as either a TIFF or PDF file or you can simply print it. Previews do not display the effects of print options such as Front and Back printing or printing several pages per sheet.

• Save as PDF...: Allows you to save the document as a PDF. Click the Save as PDF... button to show a Save to File window, shown in Figure 9-8, which you use to choose where on the computer to save the PDF. The only difference between saving a PDF via Output Options within the unlabeled menu in the Print dialog and the Save as PDF... button is that the configuration of the former can be contained within custom presets for easy access.

  
  Figure 9-8: Use the Save to File dialog to save the PDF of your document to your computer.

Using the Print & Fax preferences pane

The Print & Fax preferences pane is a new addition to Mac OS 10.3. Although, it certainly aids in the simplification of printer configuration, its design was motivated by the need to make the operating system more intuitive to the Windows’ user experience. To access the Print & Fax preference pane you will need to open the System Preferences located in the Applications folder. One way to do this is to select System Preferences from the Apple Menu. Another way to access the Print & Fax preferences pane is to select Preferences form the Print Setup Utility’s Printer Setup Menu. The Print & Fax preferences pane is divided into two panels, Printing and Faxing. The Printing Panel has a button title Set Up Printers, which is a shortcut to the Printer Setup Utility. The Printing panel also allows you to specify a default printer and a default paper size within a Print dialog, and enable USB printer sharing as depicted in Figure 9-9.

Figure 9-9: To make locally attached printers and fax modems available to other users via a network, place a checkmark in the box to left of Share my printers with other computers.

Receiving a fax

The Faxing panel as shown in Figure 9-10, allows for the configuration of receipt of faxes. To receive a fax, follow these steps:

1. Place a checkmark in the box next to Receive faxes on this computer.

2. Specify the desired number of rings to answer on in the field adjacent to When a Fax Arrives: Answer after (entry field) rings.

   • Specify the location to save faxes to... in the Save to pop-up menu.

   • Place a checkmark... in the box next to Email to and specify an email address to forward received faxes to an email account.

   • Place a checkmark... in the box to the left of Print on printer and to the right specify the desired printer using the pop-up menu.

     
     Figure 9-10: The Email to feature is dependent on Mac OS X’s included Mail application.

Sending a fax

Although Microsoft’s Window’s operating systems has had integrated faxing capability for years, this is a new addition to Mac OS. Traditionally, faxing on Mac platform has always been handled by means of third-party software or services, such as FaxSTF or eFax. In fact, up until recently, Apple included a copy of SmithMicro Software’s FaxSTF as part its software bundle with most shipping Macs. If you have used FaxSTF on Mac OS X in the past, you will undoubtedly find Panther’s integrated faxing to be similar in operation. Although the usefulness of faxing has been somewhat nullified by email, faxing can be handy in communicating with computer challenged and as a means of printing when on the road and no printer is available. Mac OS 10.3 faxing operation is as follows:

• Fax button: Allows you to fax the document utilizing a local or shared analogue modem. Click the Fax button to show the Fax dialog as depicted in Figure 9-11.

  
  Figure 9-11: The operation of Mac OS X’s built-in faxing is similar to that of FaxSTF.

• The Fax dialog operates in similar fashion to the Print dialog with a few exceptions; the most obvious being the To, the Subject, and the Dialing Prefix fields, and the Modem menu. The To field is where you specify the recipient of the fax. This can be done manually or via the fax Address book. To the right of the To field, is a button with an exclamation mark on it. This button opens up a fax Addresses window as shown in Figure 9-12, which lists the entries that have been input into the Address Book application located in the Applications folder.

  
  Figure 9-12: Use fax address book to select your Fax recipients.

• The Subject entry field is where you specify the subject of the fax.

• The Prefix field is where you would specify a dialing prefix such as disable call waiting (*70), and/or a country code such as (01144) for the United Kingdom.

• The Modem field is where you specify the modem that will be used to transmit the fax. There is also an option titled Show Fax List.... This is a shortcut that will open the Fax List window within the Print Setup Utility.

Cover Page and Modem are two noteworthy selections that appear under the unlabeled Print dialog menu when faxing. In Cover Page, you can select a predefined cover page as well as input the message you want to include on the cover page. This option enables you to select a cover page, specify where the cover page will be ordered in the fax, and assign billing information. In Modem, you can specify whether to dial using tone or pulse, if the sound should be on or off, and whether to wait for a dial tone before printing.