Safari prints blank pages

When I try to print in Safari, the preview in the print dialog box is blank and I am unable to print. When I select "Open PDF in Preview" in the dialog box, it opens a blank PDF.


I am also noticing similar printing problems in other native programs like Preview and TextEdit. Although Chrome seems to be affected too.

Firefox, and Microsoft Office programs are printing correctly.


So far I have tried the following:

  • Restarting the computer
  • deleting Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewr.plugin
  • Logging in as a "guest" in which I was able to print and everything worked correctly
  • Logging in Safe Mode, which I was not able to print when logged in as myself (not guest).


Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Sep 11, 2012 8:22 PM

Reply
24 replies

Sep 14, 2012 11:47 AM in response to JasonatHope

Back up all data now.

This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.


Step 1

Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:

sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:20 ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_

Be sure to select the whole line by triple-clicking anywhere in it. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command.

The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.

Step 2


Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.

When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Utilities Terminal from the menu bar. A text window opens.

In the Terminal window, type this:

resetpassword

That's one word with no spaces. Then press return. A Reset Password window opens. You’re not going to reset a password.

Select your boot volume if not already selected.

Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.

Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.

Select  Restart from the menu bar.

Sep 20, 2012 2:00 PM in response to Linc Davis

OK. I'm back.

I completed both steps and the problem persists.


When I perform Step 1, I received the following output from Terminal:


chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file lastpasscrplugin: Invalid argument

chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file ubiquity.socket: Invalid argument

chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file ics436: Invalid argument

chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file icssuis501: Invalid argument

Sep 21, 2012 9:34 AM in response to Linc Davis

OK, partial success! I am now able to print but when I print from Safari or Preview I see the following print dialog by default which has Paper Size set to "Other". When I manually change that to "Letter" then the preview in the dialog works and it prints fine. I can't seem to get the paper size to stay as "Letter" by default even when I set it as a default preset.


The lone exception is Chrome which I still can't print from at all and which does not have an option for setting paper size.

So I still feel like something is not quite right, but I am at least able to print from most programs now.


Preview:

(in Preview and Safari this is what I see and it prints when I manually change Paper Size to Letter)

User uploaded file


Chrome:

(In Chrome this is what I see and I am unable to print at all)

User uploaded file

Sep 21, 2012 10:23 AM in response to Linc Davis

Ah ha! My problem is solved. The problem is I tried so many things that i am not positive what fixed it.


One thing I tried was locating the printing preset prefs file(s) and deleting them.

(/Users/UserName/Library/Preferences, the file is called "com.apple.print.custompresets.forprinter". Deleted both the .plist file and a plist.lockfile for each printer.)


I also went into TextEdit and set the paper size from there.


It also could have been something else or any combination of the many instructions you provided, so thank you!


Everything is working normal and as expected, including Chrome.


Thanks again!

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Safari prints blank pages

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