Lesson #7: Choosing a Printer

How do I select a printer?

Our school has a variety of 'network printers' available. To print a document, it's important to know which printer you've chosen. Each grade level has a printer with a unique name.  To find your area printer, go "Under the Apple" and select CHOOSER.

This will bring up the same screen as you saw in the last lesson. However, this time click ONCE on "LaserWriter 8" on the left and a number of choices will be shown on the right.

You will see other printers available in the Chooser window, but these are only used for printing to specific printers that are located in a classroom. Your area printer (LaserWriter 8) is the one you'll use most often.

You only need to click ONCE on your area printer. No need to hit CREATE. After you close the Chooser window you will see the following message:

This message only serves as a reminder that you've changed printers. You don't really need to worry about using the "Page Setup" option as is mentioned in the message. Your documents should print just fine without using Page Setup.

Click OK and you will see your new printer appear on the desktop. A thick black line should appear around the printer that is now active.

You should always print to your area printer! If you would like to print in color, you can select this printer in the Chooser window. The color printer is located in the computer lab. Just be sure you go BACK to the Chooser window and select your area printer when you've finished so you don't continue to print to the color printer. Color ink is much more expensive and it's wasteful to use a color printer when you don't need to print color documents.

Watch a movie about choosing a printer! CLICK HERE! (:44)

Ready to review your knowledge of printers? Take a short QUIZ to check for understanding.