printing selected text

[Ally346]

1. Operating system macOS High Sierra 10.13.1

2. Print screen offers only two print options:   a) ALL pages or:  b) Page ? to ?

3. Where is the option to print highlighted/selected text (this could be from a variety of open screens e.g. document; email; webpage etc)?

4. Retailer assured me that HP OfficeJet 6960 is compatible with Mac, but the printer is obviously pretty useless if print options are limited to 2a) and 2b) 

Please advise

Thank you

[MKazi]

@Ally346

Thanks for reaching out to us on HP Support Forums. Wishing you a Merry Christmas on behalf of HP. 

I understand that you have an HP OfficeJet Pro 6960 All-in-One Printer and you're unable to print selected text in Mac OS. Not worry, I'll do my best to help you. 

 Here’s a technique you can use to print selected text from just about any application on your Mac:

• Go to the Mail menu and select Services. From the sub-menu select Make New Sticky Note. (If you’re using an application other than Mail you won’t have a Mail menu. Instead, go to the menu named after your application. For example, if you’re using Firefox, select the text and go to the Firefox menu.)
• The application named Stickies will open and you’ll see a new sticky note on your screen that contains the text you selected in your email message.
• Go to the File menu and select Print.
• Click the Print button to print that sticky note.

If it does not allow you to print the selected text then please try to run the HP Easy Start program again using this link: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software12/HP_Quick_Start/osx/Installations/Essentials/hp-printer-help-...

Hope this information helps. Please feel free to keep me posted. Cheers! 🙂

[Ally346]

Hi - many thanks for post and Christmas wishes. 

I have installed the software you suggested.  However, it isn't just printing selected text in emails that is the issue for me, but selected text from any format/document, and never has printing selected text using other printers (even the oldest), ever required more than clicking an option in the dropdown box that appears when "print" is requested. There is no need to carry out some other complex task - it is simple, because the PRINT dropdown box will list four options:

Print - All

Print - [page number] to [page number]

Print - Selection

Print Preview

The dropdown box for HP OfficeJetPro 6960 only has the first two - Why are two of the most basic requirements of a printer - Print Selection and Print Preview not listed as functions of PRINT?

I will add to this that I am not a technical person - so telling me to download /install/follow instructions isn't helpful.  If the HP OfficeJetPro 6960 doesn't offer these two functions upfront then it is not an all-in-one printer and is of little use to me.

Please advise

[MKazi]

@Ally346

You're most welcome and I truly appreciate your efforts.

I appreciate you explaining the issue in even more detail. 

I'd like to inform you that when you highlight some text and want to print that text only, then the printer does not have the intelligence to automatically print only the highlighted text.

In order to print only the highlighted text, you have to copy it and paste it into an application like Word, etc. and then print from there. The same thing applies when you're printing from Windows operating system. 

Because the drivers are such that they will print the entire page or entire document (multiple pages) when you give a print command. At the most, you can select to print selected pages from a multiple page document but not print just highlighted text from it.  

I hope this answers your query. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers! 🙂

[Ally346]

Thank you for your reply.

Just so I am exactly clear on your answer to my query:

1. Are you are saying that the new printer I purchased in 2017 is LESS intelligent than a standard printer purchased in 1999 which has  print selection and print preview options?

2. If so, in what year did such basic functions become obsolete, and why?

3. Are these functions still available upfront on any printer, and if not, why not?

Regards

[MKazi]

@Ally346

You're welcome. 

This does not sound like an issue with the printer or the drivers. It could be a feature supported by the OS. However, I did some further digging on this case and found some information that could help:

• Highlight the specific information you want to print out with your mouse:

Example image of highlighted text:

• Now hit “CTRL+P” to launch the print menu, or File \ Print from the menu.

• This will only print out the text you have highlighted and will work for specific images also. Just highlight the image and use the same process. This should work in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The below steps should work in Mac OS:

1. CLOSE all open apps/programs. Very important!

2. Install the software

3. locate Print Selection.service inside Macintosh HD/Library/Services/Print Selection.service

NOTE: You may get blocked from seeing the contents of this Services folder due to system settings. You have to click the folder to select it, Cmd+i to get info, then go to the bottom of the window and click the lock icon and enter the administrator user name and password. Then you can change your user privileges to Read/Write and access the file.

4. Copy the application to Macintosh HD/System/Library/Services (optionally, copy it to your user's Services folder as well: /Users/[username]/Library/Services)
5. Log Out and Log back In
6. You may also need to Open Services Preferences (Safari-Services-Services Preferences), and in the Keyboard Shortcuts section, enable Print Selection.

Also, on the Apple store, there is an app, which helps in selecting the specific content you want to print and lets you print. This is called "Print Selection".

Hope this helps. Cheers! 🙂