Print Driver Because Simply

Print Driver Because Simply

I was still using the Apple-supplied driver because simply downloading and installing the software from the printer vendors website does not change the selection in System Preferences.

I recently purchased a new Epson AIO inkjet printer, the 2014 WF-4630.

And finding the solution to it led me down a road that is relevant to the owner of almost any printer on the market today.

The printers setup was easy.

Super easy. In fact, to connect to and use the printer over Wi-Fi, you dont have to install any new software.

The printer driver shows up in the Printers Scanners Preferences pane automatically.

This didnt change the selected Epson printer driver, but it did add other software to my Applications folder.

And I wasuntil I wanted to fiddle with the printers color settings.

I knew to expect a Color Options item in the Print dialogs menu.

I subsequently noticed that several other printer-specific settings were similarly missing.

My first thought: Perhaps I wasnt using the latest printer software.

I knew not to depend on any software included on the CD that came with the printer, as it could already be obsolete.

But I had already installed the latest software and updated firmware from the Epson website, so I was confident that this was not the problem.

Here I found an entirely separate Epson Printer Software Update 2.18.

I deleted and reinstalled the printer driver from System Preferences Printers Scannersstill to no avail.

To be clear, none of this prevented me from using the printer.

As long as I was willing to ignore the absence of Color Options, I could print just fine.

Because, as it turns out, for most printers today, you have a choice of two different printer drivers.

The first driver is maintained by Apple (in conjunction with the printer vendor presumably) as part of OS X.

Its also the one that appears automatically by default if you dont install any vendor-specific software.

You can typically identify this driver because it will have -AirPrint at the end of its name, indicating its compatibility with this OS X printing feature.

An Apple support article confirmed this: If the printer is AirPrint-compatible, OS X adds it without downloading and installing any additional software.

The second driver is the one that is obtained from the vendor directly, as I did when I went to Epsons website.

The problem is that only this vendor-specific driver offers support for all of the printers features.

Print Driver For Mac Os