New HP Envy 6055e would not print in color from my Mac

[homeschool3mom3]

This is not a question but a solution to new HP printers not printing in color from an Apple Mac device.

I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro running Mac OS Sonoma and just wirelessly connected a brand new HP Envy 6055e to it.

I went through the normal setup of installing HP Smart and setting up the printer that way. Please note you do not have to use Instant Ink or even sign into or create an account with HP Smart to use HP printers. They work just fine without any of that nonsense. 

Upon completing setup I tried to print a pdf document off my computer. It came out black and white even though printer settings were set to print in color. Now I've had this problem before and thought it was a printer issue so I just returned that printer. This is a completely different printer so I thought maybe something was wrong with my Mac. It turns out the issue is the HP Smart software. Not very *smart* is it? 

I discovered this by using another older iMac that I have to print the same document and it came out just fine in all it’s colorful glory. I connected the new printer to this older Mac by using the "Add Printer" function from system settings. This Mac doesn't even have HP Smart on it. So I recommend that you don't install HP Smart to your Mac and set it up through your Mac's system settings instead. 

If you're coming to this post after having followed HP's setup process you'll need to do a couple things to get your printer printing in color. 

1. Uninstall that garbage bloatware that is HP Smart. You can just drag the application icon to your trash or do what I did which is completely uninstall it using the AppCleaner program that is free to download from the internet. This will get rid of all the little files these companies like to hide on you computer for no other purpose than they can. 

2. Remove the printer from your computer via the System Settings. 

3. Restart your Mac just for good measure.

4. Go back into system settings and re-add the new printer via the "Add Printer" screen.

5. Try to reprint your document in color and it should be working just fine!

I hope this helps! It really was an easy fix and now my printer is working great.