Printing question marks in boxes

Hello People , Update

I have called HP and there is a solution without updating firmware. What you can do is go on Mac to printers and scanners and delete the printer. Then add new printer and select in the box usage: PCL Printer or Post Script Printer. Both worked for me.

One means for me only black and white and the other one was with colour printer. Any way with this I was able to print again. Of course you can call HP and they will assist you with this problem. This was a easy fix and they are aware of the issue and finding solution. Some were was asked Duplex , say yes to this option. Good luck

Hello joshfromsan anselmo.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. It looks like you're experiencing some issues when attempting to print from your Mac. Specifically, information is coming out with question marks in boxes. We can understand how this would be an issue. Allow us to investigate this issue and assist in any way we can.

Ever since this issue started to occur, have you been able to restart both your Mac and printer to see if that helps? If you've already tried this step with no success, we would like to share some helpful resources with you. Please check out the links below:

Solve printing problems on Mac - Apple Support

Reset the Mac printing system to solve a problem - Apple Support

These resources have great troubleshooting steps you can attempt. It even guides you through resetting your Mac printing system in case you need to go down that route.

We hope this information is useful. Best of luck.

Either delete it or disable it.

Are the two fonts that you use listed in the Font Book and OK?

Try the following: boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and check again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

According to this Apple document, About AirPrint - Apple Support, your printer model is AirPrint compatible. So when you get back go into the Sytstem/Printers & Scsnners preference pane and remove the printer. Then add it back with AirPrint. See if that will jumpstart correct printing.

Another thing comes to mind: could the printer be needing a firmware update? My Epson multi did shortly after I got it. Just some food for thought.

Hey there!

Normally, for this type of issue, I’d reset Font Book:

https://support.apple.com/guide/font-book/restore-fonts-that-came-with-your-mac-fb34862/mac

Then reset the printing system:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/reset-mac-printing-system-solve-a-problem-mh14001/mac

Re-add the printer/scanner and test, but this would be if the question marks were showing on the Mac and not the final, printed product.

Likewise, if seen on Mac, I’ve seen removing third party login items, plugins and launch/startup items, restarting have fixed similar issues, but again, this is if the fonts show question marks on the Mac itself.

Considering it shows normal on the Mac interface, but not as a printed product, yet works using a generic print profile/driver, definitely insinuates an issue with the printer software/firmware, etc.

Remember the HP issue last year? Due to a certificate signing issue, many HP Printers stopped working on Macs, this is of course way different, but I can see how a similar bug could affect many people.

In any case, hope they work it out soon, I retired my HP printer last year, but know what a pain it can be when it’s not working right. There are alternatives though, but if a Mac issue I’d follow the two articles above.

A Laborious Workaround, But It Works.

This allows me to print without uninstalling my PageWide print drivers. I still need my printer's scanning functionality, so replacing my PageWide drivers with a simple PostScript driver is not an option.

1. With an Office document open, click the File pull-down menu and click Print.
2. In the Print dialog box, find and click the PDF drop-down menu in the lower left.
3. From that menu, click Save as PostScript.
4. In the Save dialog box, provide a name for this file (maintain the .ps extension), and save it to a temporary location (perhaps the Desktop).
5. Once the file saves, find it and right-click it.
6. Hover over Open With, the click Preview.

The Preview app will open that PostScript file and convert it to a PDF. Print from the Preview app. Important: This conversion process from PostScript to PDF will allow the Office document to print to your PageWide printer. Printing to PDF from the Office app will still print the boxed question marks.

After you're done printing, you can delete that PostScript file.

My 2 Cents

Dear HP: Shame on you for preventing customers of your expensive printers from printing Office documents. It's completely unacceptable.

Security is Probably Why: A couple of months back, Microsoft had to completely overhaul it's print mechanism due to a significant security threat. I suspect this could be the root reason why we poor Mac users are dealing with this nasty print bug. I could be totally wrong, though. But the coincidence seems suspicious.

I did it but the problem remains. What should I do after I validate the fonts?

(One font comes out with minor issues, should I delete it? I usually never use it, by the way. Didn't even know it was there)

Thanks!

Giovanni

I have exactly the same problem. I tried everything mentioned in the Apple Support pages, restarting both Mac and printer, resetting the Font cache, but it goes on printing strange squares with "?" inside, and this only from .doc and text .pdf files. Images or image-pdf files are printed correctly.

Thanks for your support,

Best,

Giovanni

The fonts I am using are ok, it's just a normal Arial. And the issue I am experiencing is related to all the .doc files that I try printing.

I have tried also rebooting the Mac in Safe Mode but the problem is still there...

I have the very same issue on all my macbooks (pros and air) but dont have any issues printing using my windows based notebooks, on the very same printer! The macs just started printing ? inside a box for anything on the paper, docx or pdf all the same. So its an apple issue, am on BigSur 11.5 , seems it was a big mistake to upgrade, my printer is a HP pagewide pro 477

hope anyone of apple can get a solution on this rather then telling us to reboot in safe mode etc

thanks

rolf

Hello, I am having the same issue since 2 days started on 3 August 2021. The only thing I did was updating my MacBook M1 Pro 2021 to the newest version Big Sur 11.5.1.

I always printed without any problem. The Printer I use is HP Pagewide Pro 477dw MPF. I am looking already for 2 days on the internet for a solution. It is very annoying that I can't print anything in Pdf or Word file anymore.

I did not change anything with printer just after updating the Macbook this problem started.

Apple - please find a solution for this problem and inform asap what to do.

Regards, XW

Hello, I noticed this problem as well, starting from the 29th of July on HP Pagewide I have the problem. Talked with HP Support, the technician told me that HP retired the last firmware update because of bugs. So it seems to affect all Pagewides printing on Mac with Calibre (... and other office fonts (not proven but most probably). The HP guy send me a prior version of the firmware, have to check if it solves the issue, but I think so.

So.. no Apple fault, but HP's.

Greetings from the Dolomites

I'm having the same problem. Noticed it also with word docs and pdf . I'm printing from Macbook Pro and Macbook Air with updated software. Printing on HP Pagewide 477dw mfp. Printed an HP network configuration Page. All looks good. Printed a google doc from Google drive--all good. Restarted my computers. Restarted my printer. Checked print cartridges for any issues. None. Followed all of the advice noted above except for starting in Safe Mode. Come on Apple and MS, play nice together. I need to print docs!! And, I've already printed multiple 50 page docs that came out with boxes and question marks. Need to work!!!

I have a Pagewide pro 477dw that does the exact same thing with AirPrint. I thought it might have been the latest update to the MS suite as it recently had an update so I rolled back to a prior version that I knew worked and ended up with the same square box question marks. I then looked to see what version I had of BigSur (ver. 11.4) and confirmed that I had not updated to the latest ver 11.5 so I ruled that out as being a possibility but updated to the current version just in case, same issue. The printer on the other hand also had accepted an update on 7/1/2021 firmware ver. MAVEDWPP1N001.2127A.00

I also attempted exporting a word document to pdf and printing with the same result. I'm really thinking this issue is more with HP's latest firmware update. Hp hasn't been very helpful yet so if anyone has input I'm ready to receive! Thank you