Printing from online sources, including Blackboard 

Download the document to your device whenever possible and print from the appropriate software. For PDFs, print from Adobe Acrobat (PC, Mac) or Preview (Mac). Some files, when printing from a web browser, would sometimes disappear and not print (no charges are incurred in these situations).

Sent to the wrong printer? 

Go to printing.syr.edu and check your print history to locate which printer it was sent to. 

Not enough printing credit 

Check your balance at printing.syr.edu. You can also add more funds while you’re there.  

Paper size issue? 

Check your paper size before printing, our public printers support 8.5x11 (Letter) and 11x17 (Tabloid) only. If you print any other size, your job will not print and you'll see an error message in your job history at printing.syr.edu (no charges are incurred in these situations).

Issues with specific file formats? 

Save/Export your document from the original program to a PDF file. Print the PDF file.  

Printer is jammed, out of paper, or other technical issues 

Report to Tech Desk if an 'Out of Order' sign is not present and try another printer. Inquire at the Tech desk for a possible refund.  

Your job still hasn’t printed? 

Be patient, during peak hours, your job might take longer to print due to increase printing load. From your computer, open the print queue for the printer you printed to and see your job’s progress.  

• From a Windows computer, open Window's Settings->Devices->Printers & scanners. Select the printer you printed to and click Open queue. 
• From a Mac computer, open System Preferences->Printers and Scanners. Select the printer you printed to and click Open Print Queue. 

Go to printing.syr.edu to check your print history and verify that there aren't any errors related to your print job.

Try printing from another computer station.

Need to print in Color? 

By default, printing from a libraries desktop defaults to Black and White. If you need to print in Color: 

• From a Windows desktop, in the print dialog, look for a 'Printer Preferences' or 'Printer Properties' option and change the color mode to Color. For example, in Microsoft Office’s print dialog, select Printer Properties under the printer name and change the color options there to Color. In Adobe Acrobat, from the print dialog, select Properties next to the printer name and change the color options there to Color. 
• From a Mac desktop, in the print dialog, look for a drop-down menu that defaults to either Copies & Pages (Office) or Preview (Preview) and click on it, then select Quality. From the Color Mode drop-down menu, select Color. In Acrobat, select Printer on the bottom-left corner of the print dialog. Select Show Details and look for a drop-down menu that defaults to Layout and click it, select Quality. In the Color Mode drop-down menu select Color.

Need to print in Black and White? 

By default, printing from a Windows laptop defaults to Color Auto-Detect. To specify Black and White only, depending on the program’s print dialog, look for a 'Printer Preferences' or 'Printer Properties' option and change the color mode to Black and White.  

For example, in Microsoft Office’s print dialog, select Printer Properties under the printer name and change the color options there to Black and White. In Adobe Acrobat, from the print dialog, select Properties next to the printer name and change the color options there to Black and White.  

Need to print in Color? 

By default, printing  from a Mac laptop defaults to Black and White. In the print dialog, look for a drop-down menu that defaults to either Copies & Pages (Office) or Preview (Preview) and click on it, then select Quality. From the Color Mode drop-down menu, select Color. In Acrobat, select Printer on the bottom-left corner of the print dialog. Select Show Details and look for a drop-down menu that defaults to Layout and click it, select Quality. In the Color Mode drop-down menu select Color.

Jobs not printing from a Google Chrome browser? 

By default, Google Chrome on a Mac laptop defaults to an odd paper size (10x13) when printing to a libraries printer. From the print dialog in Chrome, select More settings->Paper size and change the paper size to Letter.  

Jobs not printing? (‘Hold for authentication’ message)

This message will show next to your print job in the printer queue window, it means either the NetID and/or password were typed in wrong when you were prompted. This message will also show up if you saved your NetID and password for a printer and then changed your password later on.

Solution - Either send the job again or click the little reload icon next to the job in the printer queue window and type your NetID and password (the username that automatically shows up is NOT your NetID, that’s your computer’s username).

If you saved your NetID and password for a printer and then changed your password later on, open the Keychain Access application. Type the word ‘bird’ in the top-right corner and delete any Bird library printers that show up. Print your document and you will see the credentials window again, type in your NetID and password (the username that automatically shows up is NOT your NetID, that’s your computer’s username).