Desktop Printers, those handy desktop icons you can use for quick printing or easy printer management, seem to have vanished as a supported feature in Leopard.
Despite how it looks, Leopard can actually use Desktop Printers, just like previous versions of the Mac OS could. The only thing that has really changed is the process for creating them. In previous versions of the Mac OS, Apple included a standalone printer utility that made it easy to add new printers. By simply ticking off a checkbox, you could create a desktop icon for a printer.
One of the things that changed in Leopard was the consolidation of printing functions into a single system preference. In the process of unification, the lowly desktop printer option got lost. We’re not sure if this was on purpose or just an oversight, but either way, you can get your old desktop printers back (or create new ones) with a simple fix.
Add a Printer to the Desktop
- Launch System Preferences by clicking the ‘System Preferences’ icon in the Dock, or by selecting ‘System Preferences’ from the Apple menu.
- Select the Print & Fax preferences pane by clicking the ‘Print & Fax’ icon in the Hardware section of the System Preferences window.
- From the list of available printers, drag the icon of the printer you wish to use to the desktop.
That’s it! Pretty simple. You will now have a desktop icon for your printer that you can use to both control and monitor print jobs by simply double-clicking the Desktop Printer icon. You can also drag and drop files onto the Desktop Printer icon to print one-offs of documents. One nice feature of drag-and-drop printing is that in most cases, your Mac won’t have to launch the document’s originating application to print it. The Mac’s printing system understands many common file formats and can send them directly to a printer.
As an added bonus, this tip also works with faxes, in case you would like to have a Desktop Fax icon.
