Changing the Default Printer

Ian from Switzerland writes: I cannot print through InDesign nor Illustrator, the little color spinning wheels spins forever, basically I have to do a force-quit everytime. I tried resetting the...

Anne-Marie Concepcion Anne-Marie Concepcion

Ian from Switzerland writes:

I cannot print through InDesign nor Illustrator, the little color spinning wheels spins forever, basically I have to do a force-quit everytime.

I tried resetting the OS (X.4.6) printing system and have this idea that it has to do with Flashpaper being installed. When I read the default print preset in the InDesign box it says Flash paper… which makes no sense as my main printer is an Epson and is the one configured as main in the system preferences.

Where can I ditch and/or replace the defaults preset for Adobe? And why has a total reset of the printing system even using Fixamac’s Printer Setup Repair not worked.

I am at the end of my wit, I even reinstalled InDesign.

Thanks a million,
A SAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER WHO COULD JUST AS WELL CRY TONIGHT

Ian, I’ve been at the end of my own wit more times than I can count, so I’m hearing you, friend. I hope you’re feeling better today. Remember, it’s just a computer! It’s only a computer!

Okay … Well, before you try any of my suggestions, I’d recommend you first rebuild InDesign’s preferences file. They can get damaged/corrupted over time, and especially with multiple crashes. See this post for instructions on rebuilding preferences.

By the way, reinstalling the program does not rebuild the preferences! Strange but true. Well at least on the Mac, it doesn’t. (Windows users: Does uninstalling a program also delete a user’s preferences for that program? With CS2 programs too? I have a Windows laptop but there’s nothing I want to uninstall at the moment and I’m too lazy to test. Let me know.)

Okay, so you’ve rebuilt your preferences and InDesign is acting fine except for that printing thing. All your other programs are seeing your Epson printer as the default, yes?

Do this:

  1. Close any InDesign documents but leave the program running
  2. Go to File > Print Presets > Define
  3. With the [Default] entry selected in the Print Presets dialog box, click the Define button. You’re now at the General panel of the Print dialog box, editing the settings for your Default preset.
  4. See the Printer: drop-down menu towards the top? It should say Default Printer. If it doesn’t, choose Default Printer from that menu.
  5. Click the OK button to close the Print dialog box and return to the Print Presets dialog box. You should see your Epson printer listed as the default printer in the summary field at the bottom.
  6. Click OK to close the Print Presets dialog box.

Now, create a new document and choose Print. You should see that your Epson printer is chosen by default. Go ahead and send the file to print even if it’s empty (this may not be necessary, but it’s part of my own personal voodoo), then quit InDesign, and restart it again.

Create a new document and once again go to File > Print. Is the Epson still the default printer? Should be.

If these steps didn’t help you solve the problem, then I’d suggest trying one or more of the following troubleshooting routines:

  • Download a new Epson driver or whatever sort of file that came with it (if any … I don’t have an ink jet so I’m not sure what they come with. I know PPDs are only for PostScript printers, which an out-of-the-box Epson is not). Replace the old Epson file with the new one, restart the Mac, check your Printer Setup Utility as before to make it the default, then check InDesign again.
  • Test a different user account on your Mac to see if their InDesign (same InDesign app, of course, just different user preferences) is showing the same symptoms. If not, there’s something glitchy in your User > Library folder. If the other user account is having the same problems, then hmmm, not sure what to tell you.
  • Run the usual OS X troubleshooting … repair permissions, check with Disk Utility, etc.

I did find this TechNote on Adobe’s site about using inkjets with Illustrator CS2, maybe it’d help:
https://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/322680.html

Please comment on this post to follow-up, I’m curious which, if any, of these suggestions helped you out!

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This article was last modified on December 18, 2021

This article was first published on June 24, 2006

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