Printer settings & troubleshooting for Mac OS

Purpose: In this guide we explain how to access and customize printing settings and give you some basic troubleshooting steps for Mac OS. You can also learn how to install our Print Client App.

CUPS web interface and recommended hardware settings

To access to CUPS web interface for Zebra printers, read the instructions in the Zebra Support Community here. 

Recommended settings:

Zebra:

• Speed: 2
• Darkness: 30
• Paper Format: inch and portrait
• Size: Width 4,00 and Height 6,00

Dymo LabelWriter 4X:

• Orientation: Portrait
• Set the paper size to '1744907 4 in x 6 in' 

*Please note we have only tested the models mentioned above.

Install the Print Client app

You can also print labels in one click to avoid downloading the label in pdf format. If you print the label using our Print Client App, you are getting the best quality possible. You can install the Print Client app by going to Shipping > Printing options. If the Print Client hasn't been installed yet, a blue pop-up with a download button will appear. 

Click on Download print client app to download the application. 

Next, you open the downloaded document and drag the application into Applications.

The Print Client is now successfully installed.

Uninstall the Print Client app

If you want to uninstall the Print Client app on your Mac, you can follow the steps below:

1. Locate the Print Client app (Sendcloud) on your device
2. Drag the icon to Trash or right click and choose Move to bin
3. Empty bin by right clicking the Trash icon and choose Empty bin
4. The Print Client app has now been permanently deleted

Customize printer settings (Print Client 1.0.7)

With Sendcloud Print Client 1.0.7 for MacOS, it is possible to further customize printer settings. 

To change the following settings, go to the Sendcloud Print Client settings page. 

File format

By default, Sendcloud will select ZPL format (in blue). However, there might be situations where a Zebra printer might not support this file format. 

To switch to PDF format, select PDF (in red). 

Resolution (ZPL format only)

If you have a Zebra printer that supports ZPL format, you can also customize the resolution. We support the following resolutions:

• 200 DPI

• 203 DPI

• 300 DPI

• 600 DPI

To change the resolution, select the preferred option from the drop-down menu.

To find out the recommended resolution for your printer, check the printer specifications.

Double- or single- sided printing

You can also enable duplex printing (printing on both sides of the paper) in the Print Client settings. This is only possible if your Zebra printer supports duplex printing. To find out if your printer offers double-sided printing, check your printer specifications. 

To activate in the Print Client settings, select Double.

Printer communication issues

If the printer is not being recognized, please try the following:

• Connection - make sure that the USB cable is firmly connected to the printer and/or try with another USB cable. In case you are using a print server or the printer is being shared from another computer in your local network, please test the printer by connecting it directly to your computer.
  
  
• Status Light Indicator - Make sure that there is power to the printer and check if the power LED indicator turns on. If the power LED indicator does not turn on, it might be that the power adapter is not supplying power to the printer. 

Printer Status

You can check the status of the printer in the settings of your OS X by following these steps: 

1. Go to System Preferences
   
2. Click on Printers & Scanners
   
3. You will see the name/model of the printer and the status. The statuses can be offline or idle.
   
4. Additionally, you can also check the status of the printer if you print a document. You will notice that a printer icon will appear on the dock, this icon will indicate the status of the printer as well:
   

You can learn more about the printer status and how to solve printing problems on these Apple’s official articles, here and here. 

Labels not printing 

If you are printing a label and the printer is not responding, then the issue might be related to a bad output data or the printer is not receiving the order accordingly. Kindly check the following:

• Not responding errors - is there any error message/code? If the error message makes mention of Sendcloud or our Print Client App, make a screenshot of the error message/code and contact us at support@sendcloud.com for further assistance. If the error message is not related to Sendcloud, please contact the manufacturer of the printer for support. 
• Status Light indicator - The status of the LED indicator provides the current status of the printer and will help you to identify and correct problems. In some cases the light indicator can be blinking or static in red, blue or orange. Please check the user manual of the printer or contact the manufacturer for further assistance. 
• Self-test printing - In some printer models/brands, it is possible to perform a self-test. By performing this test you can isolate the issues related to communication or printing quality, kindly check the user manual of the printer to see if you have this option available. 

Print quality issues

Format

If the label is not being printed in the correct format, make sure you are selecting the A6 format in the Printer Settings section in your Sendcloud panel and in the advanced printer settings on your Mac as well.

A6 measurements are 105 × 148 millimeters or 4.13 × 5.83 inches (4x6)

Selecting A6 in SendCloud panel:

In order to check the advanced printing setting on your Mac, check this link. 

You can also print labels in one click to avoid downloading the label in pdf format. If you print the label using our Print Client App, you are getting the best quality as possible instead of generating the pdf. The steps to install our Print Client App can be found here.

Labels are blurry or faded 

Make sure that there is no dust inside the printer, check the official manufacturer’s  site for advice on how to clean the label printer. Try to print any other document or a test page to see if the issue occurs regardless of the document that is being printed. 

Bars (in barcode) are very thick

Adjust the print speed and darkness in the settings of the printer, kindly check the user manual of the printer to know more about these adjustments. For some models/brands you will need to perform these adjustments via CUPS (The Common Unix Printing System). This is a web interface that will allow you to make some adjustments that are not shown in the Advanced Printing Preference on your Mac. Please contact the manufacturer of the printer for further assistance in case it is needed.

Strange characters when printing

Try to connect the printer using another usb cable, make sure you have installed the latest driver and firmware version available for the model of your label printer. Please note that some manufacturers advise to turn off and disconnect the printer from the computer during a (re)installation. You can also check if the issue persists when you connect the printer to another computer. 

My Zebra printer prints a blank label 

There are several possible reasons why your Zebra label printer is printing a blank label. A few possible reasons are listed below together with suggested solutions:

• Your Zebra printer does not have the right drivers installed for your operating system
  First, delete your current printer drivers from the system and then remove all related files from Trash on your MacBook. After you've fully removed your old printer drivers, download the right driver for your printer. Open the Zebra printers overview and choose your printer model. On the support page for your printer model, you can find a list of drivers for various operating systems. Choose the one suitable for your system, click Download, and install the driver. 
• You have a thermal Zebra printer
  This means that your labels should be heat sensitive; however, the ones you are using are not. To test if the labels you are using are heat-sensitive, simply apply some heat to the label. If your labels are heat-sensitive, the area you applied the heat to will turn black. If the label does not turn black, you have non-heat-sensitive labels.
• Your printhead needs cleaning
  Perform a cleaning procedure on the printhead as described in this Zebra Support article.

If none of the above has helped, the printer itself might be at fault. Please reach out to Zebra Customer Service to resolve the issue. 

Still need support?

If you are still having issues connecting your printer or printing labels, we advise that you confirm with the manufacturer of your specific printer brand that the printer is working as intended and that you have installed the latest version of any available drivers. 

For more assistance troubleshooting your settings, once the above information has been checked, contact us by opening a support ticket in your Sendcloud Platform and include the following information:  

• Printer model
• Operating system
• What did you change recently on your computer or environment? E.g. Operating system updates, 3rd party printing programs installed, new hardware or roll labels.
• Environment: Local / print server / Shared on local network
• Issue description: (kindly share screenshots of the error message and describe in details the steps or workflow you are doing so that we can reproduce the issue)
• Does the issue continue to occur if you quit the Print Client App? Yes/No
• Print client app version installed*: 

*You can check the version of the Print Client App by clicking on the Sendcloud icon on the tool bar and selecting Open management interface. Kindly provide us with a screenshot of this when creating your support ticket.