Quick! First answer that pops into your head: When you press a Print button, what do you think will happen next?
It will print, right? Sure, but not when you’re using Photos for macOS. Printing in that app is a two-step operation missing a familiar cue in the first step about the sequence that follows.
When you select an image or images and select File > Print, the Photos print dialog appears with just a few options. You can select the printer, the paper format, and a prefab printing setup. For some layout choices, like Contact Sheet and Custom, additional options appear at the bottom.
IDGThe first Print dialog seems like it will print the image when you click Print. Not so!
But then there’s that Print button in the lower right-hand corner. Clicking it will surely go ahead and print the picture or pictures?
In fact, no: Click Print and the macOS Print dialog appears, letting you make further adjustments, including settings custom to the printer.
IDGThe final Print dialog provides familiar options for output.
Apple’s normal convention to show that more options will appear is to put an elipsis (…) after the button’s name. If it said “Print…”, you’d know that there was one more step before the pictures came out on paper. Or, it might put the setup details in File > Page Setup, but that option has disappeared from many apps.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Amir.
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Author: Glenn Fleishman, Senior Contributor
Glenn Fleishman’s most recent books include Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, Take Control of Calendar and Reminders, and Take Control of Securing Your Mac. In his spare time, he writes about printing and type history. He’s a senior contributor to Macworld, where he writes Mac 911.