Big Sur Printing Problem

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Level 1

8 points

Big Sur Printing Problem

Running OS 11.6 on an iMac or MacBook Air and printing to a Canon MG5750 printer. Printer using AirPrint is not printing any text from Pages documents or other word processing applications nor PDF's. It will print the boxes the text is contained in where there tables but not the text. In certain cases (like Text Edit) it will not print anything on the page and just churns out a blank page. Photos etc print ok just not text documents of any kind. Tried all the online suggestions; reset printer; updated drivers; etc, etc, but nothing works. Printing should be a basic function of a computer but somehow Apple appear to have managed to mess this up in Big Sur. Never had any problems with previous OS.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 5, 2021 4:12 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Sharon_419

Community Specialist

Oct 6, 2021 7:53 AM in response to Hundleshope

Hi Hundleshope,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities.

We understand that when you print from your Mac the text is blank and we’re happy to help!

If you're having problems printing, "Go to the printer and check the following:

It’s turned on and is displaying normal status lights.
It has paper, and the paper isn’t jammed.
It has enough ink or toner.
Its cables are properly connected."

Learn how Solve printing problems on Mac.

Let us know if this helps. Best regards.

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Answer 2

Jeff_W.

Community Specialist

Oct 6, 2021 9:23 AM in response to Hundleshope

Hundleshope,

Before you reinstall macOS you should Start up your Mac in safe mode. "Starting up your Mac in safe mode can help you determine whether issues you’re experiencing are caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up." Learn How to use safe mode on your Mac.

If you plan on reinstalling macOS, make sure to back up your Mac first.

Learn How to back up your Mac and How to reinstall macOS.

Have a nice day.

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Answer 3

Hundleshope Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2021 9:07 AM in response to Sharon_419

Thanks for trying but done that several times over, along with all the other options of restting printers, drivers, etc. There's lots of people online with Big Sur printing problems and to repeat myself, the problem is specific to not printing text, other printing options like screenshots and photos print ok so its not the actual printer connection that's the problem but something in the way text is handled by the OS as it happens across all word processing apps; e.g. Pages, TextEdit; LibreOffice. Any other ideas would be appreciated. What about reinstalling Big Sur? Any merit in doing that?

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Answer 4

Hundleshope Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2021 1:09 PM in response to Jeff_W.

Thanks Jeff; as an experiment I started in safe mode but that's not made any difference to the printing problem. Does anyone think that reinstalling macOS will actually do anything of use? I am not an expert but not convinced because I have the same problem on both my iMac and MacBook Air, both were updated to OS 11.6 on the same day. The only way I can get text to print is to convert to pdf and use Adobe Acrobat and select 'print as image' or take a screenshot and print. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

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Answer 5

gladyc

Community Specialist

Oct 6, 2021 1:54 PM in response to Hundleshope

Hundleshope,

Before reinstalling macOS, we're actually going to suggest you reach out to Apple Support directly to allow them to further investigate the behavior. Especially since its happening on two different Mac's since the update. Use this link to reach out please: Get Support

Cheers!

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Answer 6

Oct 6, 2021 2:13 PM in response to Hundleshope

How can you affirm the problem is "the mess Big Sur" as millions of people are printing well with theyr printer in Big Sur although many have problems and most are solved? Surely something has changed as I can't remember the last time I had to update the driver of my Epson ET-2500 since 2016 until I had to with Big Sur. But it's working perfectly.

You've installed the Big Sur version drivers, I presume... (I've seen them available on Canon's site).

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Answer 7

Old Toad

Level 10

210,859 points

Oct 6, 2021 2:35 PM in response to Hundleshope

Have you installed or run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" or anti-virus apps on your Mac?

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Answer 8

Hundleshope Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2021 3:03 PM in response to gladyc

Thank you, I will do that tomorrow. There is something odd going on so hopefully they can help.

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Answer 9

Hundleshope Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2021 3:06 PM in response to Old Toad

Like you I never had to update my drivers until Big Sur came along and now its not working perfectly! And yes, I have the latest Canon drivers. I will see if Apple can help.

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Answer 10

Hundleshope Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2021 3:08 PM in response to Old Toad

No, nothing like that all. I usually steer clear of all these things. The only thing like that I have is a file shredder app. (p.s. like the name....)

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Big Sur Printing Problem

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