Cannot scan to network folder on MAC

[TCrowne]

I tried to setup a network folder into which my HP could send scans since buying my HP printer four years ago.  I never could make it work.  There is no real definitive guide on the internet, and all the threads I read posted suggestions which did not work. I combined many suggestions in a two hour trial and error yesterday, and it finally now works - by luck.  I cannot promise it will work for you, but here's what worked for me.

First, my equipment.  I use an HP M475dw printer and have an aging iMac running High Sierra 10.13.6.

There's plenty of good advice on setting up the shared folder on your mac, and I won't repeat that here - this assumes you have already done that.  I called my shared folder 'scan' and put it in my 'documents' folder.  Note that all items in green come together later.

On the HP interface via my computer I input the following:

Display Name (this is what you want to show up on the printer as the destination.  I called mine 'Mac Shared Folder')

Network Path: For this you need a few things:

First, the network path of the shared folder.  You get this from the apple menu / system preferences / sharing.  Click the shared folder into which your scans should go.  In the grey section above the 'shared folder' white box, you should see the following message:  "File Sharing: On / Other users can access shared folders on this computer..." followed by the volumes.  The only thing you need from this is the IP address.  Yours will be different from this, but will look something like "192.168.0.127"  Paste this into a document / note, somewhere you can store it and use it in the below 'action step.'

Second, the file path to the folder you setup.  There are many ways to get this.  One is to navigate to and right click on the folder in Finder, choose 'Get Info'  - In the pop-up window, highlight everything after 'Where:' and paste it into the same document / note.  It will look something like "/Users/TCrowne/Documents"

Third, the folder name you chose.  Remember, I called mine 'scan' (follow the green text above).

Putting it all together

Your final network path is the three green items above, except you have to change all the / to \, and must start with \\

If your folders and paths were EXACTLY the same as the items in green above (and they will not be), your path would be:

\\192.168.0.127\Users\TCrowne\Documents\scan

Knowing the correct syntax for this path has daunted me for years, and I stumbled on it by luck, trial and error.  HP documentation and forum advice has never provided me what was needed and who knows, it might stop working at some point, too...

Username (this value should be exactly as written in system preferences / users & groups.  Some people stated you cannot have spaces in the user name, but I do and it works)

Password (this value should be exactly the password used on the account associated with the Username above.  If you change the password on this user later, you have to update this field for the scan folder setup to work)

I assume you are saavy enough to fill the remaining fields.

Please note I do not follow the email account associated with this post so I will not likely reply to any questions, sorry.

Good luck.

[chazbarx]

Hi,

I know you may not see this to have a chance to reply; but I'm curious if you were able to get files larger than 75dpi to scan to the network folder. I was able to get the 75dpi working successfully, but it fails with anything higher (which elimnates its purpose, really).

Thanks,

Chaz

[Tim42]

Yes, you are correct - it does work at 75dpi.  This should be an easy fix for developers at Apple or HP.  So why has nothing been done?  Beats me.  So I just depend on my USB stick.

[jeramyn]

The same issue continues with Mojave 10.14

[bernhardus]

I have reported this issue to HP almost 2 years and there is still no fix.

Scanning to network folder at 75 dpi works but 150 dpi and higher fails.

My printer is a 277DW, latest FW, MacOS 10.13.4

Utterly disappointed.

[IronBadger]

I have sent Private Messages to several people on this thread.

I ran out of available messages so can not send to the rest just yet.

If you are still seeing this issue and did not get a message from me please send me a private message and hopefully I can reply.

[bernhardus]

Hi,

I am very grateful for directing me to this fw pre-release.

I have applied fw 20180321SC to one of our 277DW and after 2 yrs we can now finally scan to network folders in our office.

I only wonder why this pre-release from March 2018 has not been officially released ?

Kudos !

[Tim42]

Thank you Thank you Thank you!   It has been a long journey.  I hope HP posts this soon

[gesmike]

---

@bernhardus wrote:

Hi,

I am very grateful for directing me to this fw pre-release.

I have applied fw 20180321SC to one of our 277DW and after 2 yrs we can now finally scan to network folders in our office.

I only wonder why this pre-release from March 2018 has not been officially released ?

Kudos !

---

Where is this pre-release you speak of? Would love to get that installed and solve our issue as well.

[bernhardus]

I received a private message from IronBadger with a  link to an HP site, an account name and a password.

I don't know if I would compromise IronBadger if I published the link here. Best you ask him to send you the link in a private message.

Cheers,