macOS Print Center shows persistent 'printer offline

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Level 1

4 points

macOS Print Center shows persistent 'printer offline

Since upgrading to macOS Tahoe 26.5.2, I'm getting a Print Center notification in my main menu bar with a persistent red exclamation point. When I click on it, it says, "The printer is offline." Of course it's offline. Who uses their printers with their laptop 24/7? I move between work and home and don't constantly have printers connected. I have "no jobs waiting" yet the error badge remains indefinitely. I tried quitting Print Center, clearing the queue, and restarting my Mac. I tried searching for others with the same issue and found a Reddit post, but nothing in this community. I would really like this bug fixed as I can't stand seeing a red notification that I'm unable to remove.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.5

Posted on Jul 22, 2026 4:16 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 22, 2026 6:31 PM in response to thisemily

I do not see this, for me the Print Center Menu Bar item is only present when a document is actually printing. The Print Center menu bar item is not controlled by System Settings, and it cannot be Command-dragged off the menu bar.

Since much of that functionality is out of your control, reset your printing system as follows:

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

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Answer 2

steve626

Level 6

16,615 points

Jul 23, 2026 6:01 PM in response to thisemily

You might consider rebooting into Safe Mode (instructions vary by Mac model for Safe Mode boot) as that clears some caches ... somehow your Mac might be "remembering" something held in a cache that you want to have it forget.

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