If you're having trouble printing your tax return, try these common troubleshooting tips.

• Update TurboTax 
• Update your printer driver 
• Restart your computer and printer 
• Computers using Windows 
• Computers using MacOS 
• Troubleshooting Adobe Acrobat Reader 
• Resolving Adobe Acrobat printing problem  

Make sure you update TurboTax on your computer. We release updates for TurboTax throughout the tax season. These updates sometimes contain solutions to printing problems.

To update TurboTax desktop, go to the Online menu at the top then click One-click Updates. If you're using TurboTax Online, you don't have to manually update the product. We make frequent updates to TurboTax Online.

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A printer driver is a software program that allows your computer to work with your printer. Many printing problems are caused by an out-of-date printer driver.

Contact your printer manufacturer for assistance in downloading and configuring the latest version of your printer driver. See Update a Printer Driver for printer manufacturer contact information, including phone numbers and manufacturer web sites.

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Sometimes performing a "reboot" of your computer or printer will clear an error.

1. Save your work in any running programs, and then close the programs.
2. Shut down the operating system e.g. Windows XP.
3. Turn off your computer.
4. Turn off your printer for at least 15 seconds. This will free up memory for your print job on both the computer and the printer.
5. Restart your computer and printer.
6. Verify that your printer is plugged in, turned on, and connected to the computer. Most printers have a light (often green) or a small display that indicates it is online.

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The following apply only to Windows-based computers. Follow the instructions below if you are using:

• A TurboTax for Windows product.
• TurboTax Online on a Windows-based computer.

TurboTax is designed to be compatible with current printers and printer drivers used with Windows 2000 or XP operating systems. If printing is not successful, it usually indicates faulty communication between the printer and Windows.

Windows printer queue and print jobs

Sometimes an earlier print job is paused. This may block your current job. Check the printer queue to make sure there are no paused print jobs. Also, make sure the correct printer is selected as the default printer. To do this:

1. From the Windows task bar, select the Start button, select Settings, select Control Panel, and then select Printers (or, for Windows XP, select Start, select Control Panel and then select Printers and Faxes).
2. In this window, find the icon for the printer you want to use. Make sure there is a check mark in the lower left or upper right corner of the icon. If there is no check mark, this printer is not the default printer. Right-click the printer icon and choose Set as Default.
3. Double-click the printer icon to bring up the print queue for that printer. There should be no print jobs listed in the queue. If any files are listed, go to the Printer menu near the top left corner of the print queue window and select Purge Print Documents (or Cancel All Documents in Windows XP).
4. Go to the Printer menu again and verify that there is no check mark next to Pause Printing. If there is a check mark, select Pause Printing once to remove it.

Test printing in Windows operating system

Make sure that Windows is communicating with the printer, and that the printer will print a file. You can check this operation by printing a document from another software program:

1. From the Windows task bar, select the Start button, select Programs (for Windows XP Home, select All Programs), select Accessories, and then select WordPad.
2. Type in any text you like.
3. From the File menu, select Print. A page should print with the text you typed. If you are unable to print from WordPad, contact your printer's manufacturer.

Turn off background programs

Make sure that you turn off any programs that are running in the background. These are programs such as anti-virus protection that are running while you're using TurboTax. These programs can cause a conflict with your printer and use resources needed to print your return.

Remember to turn these background programs back on once you have finished using TurboTax.

1. Check for programs running in the background. To do this, move your cursor to the bottom of the screen so that the Windows task bar appears. You'll see all the programs that you're currently running, including TurboTax.
2. Switch to any background program by selecting it from the task bar. Save any work and close the program. Repeat this for all the background programs except for TurboTax.
3. Close TurboTax (saving any work as necessary).
4. Restart TurboTax and then attempt to print your return.

Change the printer configuration

It is important that the printer settings be properly configured for TurboTax.

On most Windows computers, you can adjust the settings by doing the following:

1. From the Windows task bar, select the Start button, select Settings, select Control Panel, and then select Printers (in Windows XP, select Start, select Settings, select Control Panel and then select Printers and Faxes).
2. Right-click your printer's icon and select Properties.

Adjust the following settings:

• On color printers, select the option to print in black and white. If black and white is unavailable, try grayscale.
• Set the print resolution to 300 dots per inch (dpi).

Note: Not all printers will support 300dpi. Set your printer to the lowest resolution, but it should be at least 300dpi.

• Select the option that allows you to print directly to the printer.

If the steps above did not allow you to adjust the settings, refer to your printer documentation or contact your printer's manufacturer for further assistance.

Remove interfering devices

Computer systems often have additional devices connected between the printer and the computer, such as:

• Switch boxes (used to connect two or more printers to a parallel port on a computer)
• External tape drives
• External disk drives (ZIP drives)
• External CD drives
• Scanners

These devices can cause printing difficulties. We recommend that when printing from TurboTax, you connect the printer directly to the computer.

Identify networking issues

If you experience difficulties printing to a network printer, try printing to another printer on the network or a printer connected directly to the computer via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) or parallel port. If you still experience difficulties, contact your network administrator.

Check for ECP port printer issues

Some computers have the printer port set up as an Extended Capabilities Port (ECP). Certain types of printers do not work correctly with TurboTax if they have this configuration.

To determine if your printer port is set up as an ECP:

1. From the Windows desktop, select Start, select Settings, and then select Control Panel (for Windows XP, select Start, select Control Panel and then select System).
2. Select the Device Manager tab (on Windows XP, select the Hardware tab, and then the Device Manager button).
3. Look for the Ports (COM & LPT) heading, and double-click it. If your printer port is set up as ECP, it appears in this list as ECP Printer Port.
4. Review documentation that came with your printer or contact your printer's manufacturer for more information on ECP and how to resolve ECP printer issues.

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These steps apply only to MacIntosh computers. Follow these steps if you are using:

• A TurboTax for Mac product.
• TurboTax Online on a MacInstosh computer.

Printer queue and print jobs

Sometimes an earlier print job is paused, which may block your current job. Check the printer queue to make sure there are no paused print jobs. Also, make sure the correct printer is selected as the default printer.

Mac OS X

To delete a single printer or print job:

1. Select Applications from the Finder's Go menu, double-click the Utilities folder, and then double-click Printer Setup Utility.
2. Go to the Printers menu and select Show Jobs.
3. Select the printer or print job you want to delete, and then select Delete.

To delete more than one printer or print job, hold down the Command key and select all of the printers or print jobs you want to delete, and then select Delete.

Check the MacIntosh operating system

Make sure the operating system is communicating with the printer. Here's how:

Mac OS 10.x

1. Double-click the Hard Drive icon on the desktop.
2. Double-click the Applications icon on the left side of the window.
3. Double-click the TextEdit icon in the Applications window.
4. Enter any text.
5. Go to the File menu and select Print.

Mac OS 9.x

Start your computer with base extensions.

1. Restart the computer while holding down the space bar. The Extensions Manager will open.
2. At the top of the window in the Selected Set drop down box, select the Base set of extensions.
3. Close the window.

Turn background printing on or off

• If you can't print and background printing is on, turn it off.
• If you can't print and background printing is off, turn it on.

1. Select Chooser from the Apple menu.
2. Select the printer that you want to use from the upper left section of the Chooser dialog box.
3. Select On or Off, found under Background Printing in the lower right section of the Chooser dialog box.

If you don't see a Background Printing section, the printer you selected doesn't support background printing.

Note: Some laser printer drivers (such as the LaserWriter 8) have the background printing option in the Printing dialog box. To get to the Printing dialog box in TurboTax, go to the File menu and select Print.

If you are having trouble printing from Acrobat, determine the cause of the problem by trying the following:

• Print another PDF file, such as the first page of Acrobat Help.

If that file prints correctly, the original PDF file you are trying to print (such as your TurboTax return) may be damaged. See the Resolving Adobe Acrobat [jump] printing problems section below.

• If the Adobe Reader Help file doesn't print correctly, there could be a problem printing any file from your computer. Print another type of file (for example, a .txt file) from another application (such as Microsoft Word or WordPad).

If that file prints correctly, the problem relates to Adobe Acrobat.

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If the file doesn't print correctly, the problem relates to how your computer prints files. Follow the general steps below if this is your situation.

1. Exit all programs except Adobe Acrobat Reader and print the PDF file. Make sure to save your work.

   Note: Acrobat may be using up system resources when it prints the file; this could be the cause of your problem.

2. Print the PDF file as an image.

   Note: When you print a PDF file as an image, it may take longer to print.

Using Acrobat 6.x to print a PDF file as an image:

1. Open a PDF file in Acrobat.
2. Go to the File menu in Acrobat and select Print, and then select Advanced.
3. Select Print as Image from the Printer box.
4. Select OK, and then select OK again.

Using Acrobat 5.x to print a PDF file as an image:

1. Open a PDF file in Acrobat.
2. Go to the File menu in Acrobat and select Print.
3. Select Print as Image from the Printer box, and then select OK.
4. Save the PDF file as a new file. Go to the File menu, select Save as, and give the file a new name. This command causes Acrobat to rewrite the file.

3. Load the PDF file again.
4. Close Acrobat, and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader again.

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