I can't print a document

Possible reasons for printing failure

A document might not print because of:

  • Printer problems or,

  • PDF printing restrictions.

Printer problems

There are many reasons why your printer might not be working. For example, it could be out of paper or ink, or unplugged or damaged.

To check if your printer is printing correctly:

  1. Open the Activities overview and start typing Settings.

  2. Click on Settings.

  3. Click Printers in the sidebar.

  4. Click the settings button next to the printer.

  5. Select Printing Options.

  6. Click on Test Page. A page should be sent to your printer.

    If this fails, see Printing help. You may also need to see your printer's manual to see what else you can do.

PDF printing restrictions

Some PDF documents have a setting which prevents you from printing them. Authors can set this printing restriction when they write a document. Document Viewer overrides this restriction by default, but you may want to check that it hasn't been disabled:

You need to have dconf Editor installed on your computer to change this setting.

  1. Open the Activities overview and start typing dconf Editor.

  2. Click on dconf Editor.

  3. Browse to /org/gnome/papers.

  4. Make sure that the override-restrictions option is checked.

  5. Go back to Document Viewer and try to print the document again.