Canon printer drivers in Sierra

Thanks Andrew. Hurry up and wait seems to be the watchword.

Thanks Caro. Tried that, but no luck.

I spent all day trying to fix this issue. I want to print printable CD for clients - which was easy and fast in the past. Is there a way around this problem so that I can print the cds?

Unfortunately if I select the "AirPrint" option it does not then give the options for "Print to disc" in the print dialogue - it's the reason I had to install Canon specific drivers and not rely on Apple's preinstalled in the first case.

Not sure if that is just for my MG7150 or applicable to all of Canon's printers, anyhow, the long and short is that using Apple's supplied drivers appears to give you less functionality.

The only work around I've found that still allows me to use the Canon driver is to export the image as a TIFF without the "Alpha" box being ticked (using Preview's "Export..." menu). Employing a program such as "Disc Cover 3 RE" then allows the modified image to be selected and printing to disc seems to be successful.

One observation, from reading Canon's work around it also mentions not ticking the Alpha box when exporting to TIFF, but this "Alpha" option only seems to appear if you apply some form of image processing (Sharpen, Auto Levels for example) - if you don't process the image and export to TIFF the Alpha box seems to be missing (all you get is Format and Compression).

Just a thought, but could this "Alpha" tag be behind the "Filter failed" issue and if it's not present all is ok?

You've clearly done research into this glitch, SiH, and I hope we can all get software from Canon really soon. Need both printing and scanning capability.

With respect to printing the current Canon driver (for El Capitan - CUPS v11.7.1.0) if I make sure either the "Alpha" tick box is not present or not selected when exporting file as TIFF seems to work. The scanner has always worked fine, and that is what I would expect considering the "new" ICA driver posted by Canon for Sierra appears to be the same version as for El Capitan (ICA v4.1.3). You might want to try reinstalling that driver to see if it gets things working again (note that the scan driver is separate to the print driver so both need installing).

Regarding how long we will have to wait for Canon to update the print drivers, below is a response to an email I sent yesterday:

Thanks again. I did try that ICA download, but for some reason , although appearing to install, it failed to appear in my HD. Will try it again.

Thanks for your interest, sir.

There appears to be an additional problem beyond "filter failure". When printing a WORD file with embedded JPEG graphics (thus a CGI file), printing fails during the CGITORASTER conversion. I have the dump if that helps.

According to Apple, Canon knew of this failure 6 months ago when the Sierra bata was released to them. I guess Mac customers remain second class to Canon.

John has also said he believes more than one issue exists with respect to the Canon drivers, although thankfully I've not come across them yet!- not sure what you can do regarding embedded JPEG Word doc printing other than try converting the image file to another format (if that's possible) and ensure if the Alpha box is present it is not selected before embedding in the doc - but this is just a wild guess.

The "Alpha" box only seems to appear after the image is processed, for example apply auto levels and save the JPEG file. When you reopen and select export it appears as above - if the image is unprocessed and you just select export straight away no box is present so I assume no "Alpha" content is available, I believe that is why I can print unprocessed JPEG files without seeing the Filter failed error.

But, as said above, it's all guess work - but others might be able to make some use of what I've found out with my setup.

Problem solved! After Canon support said they don't know if/when they will fully support Apple retail grade printer users, I bought an HP 6978. Prints twice as fast, clearer printing, much easier to install and ink, using the automatic HP replenishment system where the printer self-orders the ink, is about half the cost of the semi-working Canon.

And, the HP has a smaller footprint than the Canon 892 it replaced. Took just a minute or so to install - and since the first few months ink are free, it cost less than the $100 price tag.

End of grief.

I had the same issue with my Pixma G1000. I couldnt print PDF files and PPT slides with certain images on it. It would print some, but not all. I am using the latest drivers, and softwares. I tried editing the documents or tried converting them to other formats (like from PPT to a PDF) but it still wouldnt work.

I went to Canon's website and took a closer look at their drivers descriptions - And I found the problem. Their drivers are only compatible up to El Capitan.

So I erased my Mac and reinstalled El Capitan, and the problem is gone! My printer is working fine again!

So yes, it is a driver issue not being completely compatible with Sierra. I use my printer a lot so I might have to stick with El Capitan until Canon releases proper drivers for Sierra.

The latest version of OSX Sierra (10.12.1) released today (10-24-16) contains a new driver for Canon printers that fixes the "filter failed" problem. My Pro100 printer now works fine. I would suggest anyone with a Canon printer having trouble printing in Sierra to install the latest Sierra release.

Larry B.

The Canon UK web site has also been updated recently with a "banner" across the driver page:

"Please Note: There are currently no macOS 10.12 Sierra printer drivers available for PIXMA products. This issue is being investigated and we hope to have these drivers available soon."

So for those of us that need to use the Canon provided driver due to functional requirements (cd printing for example) the wait is going to be a little longer, still, good news for those using Apple's OS drivers - light at the end of the tunnel!

About the macOS Sierra 10.12.1 update

This update is recommended for all macOS Sierra users.

The macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Update improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, and is recommended for all users. This update:

• Adds an automatic smart album in Photos for Depth Effect images taken on iPhone 7 Plus.
• Improves the compatibility of Microsoft Office when using iCloud Desktop and Documents.
• Fixes an issue that may prevent Mail from updating when using a Microsoft Exchange account.
• Fixes an issue that caused text to sometimes paste incorrectly when using Universal Clipboard.
• Improves reliability of Auto Unlock with Apple Watch.
• Improves security and stability in Safari.
• Fixes an issue that may cause Mail to display unnecessary password prompts for AOL accounts.
• Improves compatibility with Fujitsu's ScanSnap scanning software.
• Addresses a “Filter Failed” error when printing to some Canon printers.
• Fixes an issue that may prevent Grapher files from opening.
• Brings back the Safari option to "never use font sizes smaller than” for displaying fonts on webpages.

Note the addressed "Filter Failed" error.