A number of our clients have moved to Snow Leopard, and for the most part they are finding the transition smooth except for one thing: PRINTING. The old printer drivers no longer work under Snow Leopard. Furthermore, they don’t know where to go to get new drivers, nor do they know how to download and install them.
It’s causing lots of frustration for lots of Mac users.
Apple made an attempt to solve this in advance by including drivers in Snow Leopard, but some people are choosing not to install them, nor is every driver and manufacturer represented, nor is it working for some people even if their printer manufacturer is represented.
There is a web page at Apple to help with the printer issue. The good news is that you can have the computer auto-install some printer drivers after you’ve already upgraded to Snow Leopard. Here are the instructions:
“To get software for printers that were not installed during the Mac OS X installation process, choose Software Update from the Apple menu, allow it to complete the process of “Checking for new software”, and then connect your printer or add it using the Print & Fax pane of System Preferences. If software for your printer is available through Software Update, you will see a prompt asking if you would like to download and install this software. If you do not have access to the internet, you can insert the Mac OS X Install DVD and use Optional Installs to install the printer software available from the DVD.”
Also on this page is a chart listing common printers and multifunction printers, telling you whether this printer is compatible with Snow Leopard (and whether it works for printing, faxing, and scanning).
Apple has a separate page with instructions on how to add a printer in Snow Leopard. Also useful.
So why didn’t Apple do a better job of ensuring that printing would be seamless after the upgrade? Were they rushing to push out Snow Leopard before Windows 7 made its appearance? Now is not the time to get Mac users upset–just when so many switchers were coming over from the PC side due to Vista hassles.