How to Print a PDF on Mac (Cmd+P, Plus the Hidden PDF Button)
The short answer
Print a PDF on a Mac with Cmd+P — the print dialog appears, you pick the printer and settings, and hit Print. The Mac-specific part is the PDF button in the dialog’s bottom-left corner, which does more than printing: it’s the same menu that lets you save the PDF again, split jobs, and set up special printing. One dialog, many jobs.
The Mac print dialog, explained
- Open the PDF and press Cmd+P.
- Choose the printer, pages (All / a range), copies, and paper size.
- Check the preview on the left — that’s exactly what will print.
- Click Print.
That’s printing. The two settings that cause the most confusion are Scale (Fit to page vs. actual size — use Fit if edges get cut) and Layout (pages per sheet, borders, double-sided is under Print on Both Sides in the Layout dropdown).
The PDF button (Mac secret)
Bottom-left of the dialog is a PDF dropdown with options beyond printing:
- Save as PDF — re-export the file (used for compressing and flattening).
- Open in Preview / Mail — send the print job elsewhere.
- Save to iCloud Drive — a handy “print to cloud” shortcut.
Most Mac PDF tricks live behind this button, so it’s worth knowing it exists.
The honest part
Two Mac-specific quirks: (1) Some printers hide the double-sided option unless the printer supports it — if you don’t see “Print on Both Sides”, check the printer’s own settings page, not macOS. (2) If colors come out washed out, check “Print backgrounds” in the dialog — macOS skips background colors by default to save ink. And a universal truth applies here too: a low-res scan prints exactly that low-res, and the quality was decided at scan time (see scanning to PDF).