How to Troubleshoot a PDF Download Printing Error with a Black Box
We love our Paper Dolls and seeing families use them as part of their creative play time using loose parts. We know you can’t wait to get everything printed and cut out so you can start playing with the paper dolls at home. But just right when you start to print that packet, you pick up the first printed page and there is a black box on the PDF printable. All that wasted ink – definitely not what you were expecting! Fortunately, we’ve got some troubleshooting tips for you to print your PDF download to fix the black box error.
From what our customers have experienced and the testing we have done, it seems that this effects Mac users the most when printing in specific situations. However, we have heard this issue happen to Windows users. So we have done some troubleshooting to make sure that you can get your downloaded PDF file printed without wasting your ink so you can get to playing with your paper dolls.
PDF Download Prints Black Box on Page
This is what we’ve seen from customers and also experienced for ourselves. This is NOT the result we want when you print our Paper Doll bundles. But – we have some suggestions on how to troubleshoot this issue so you can print your download without any issues!
Printing Tip – Always Print a Test Page
Whether you are having issues with your PDF printing or not, be sure that you ALWAYS print a test page before you print everything you need. Some of our Paper Doll bundles are hundreds of pages long and we would hate for you to waste all that ink with pages that are full of black blocks.
Be sure to print a test page from each PDF packet that you download in your preferred printing method. If you are getting the black boxes on your print outs, try to troubleshoot the issue using our suggestions below that have worked for our customers who have experienced this issue.
Troubleshooting Tip #1: Print from Your Browser
We always suggest using Chrome or Firefox as your browser when you download your file. Some customers download from our Shopify platform or Teachable platform and depending on the browser you are using it may open up a new window with the PDF file before it downloads.
We find that if you print directly from that file in that opens up in the browser window that there are no black boxes printed on the pages. But always be sure to test just ONE page using this method to see if it works.
Troubleshooting Tip #2: Open File Directly in Adobe Acrobat Reader
We always suggest using the Adobe Acrobat Reader as the main software to open the PDF files, however, we understand that not everyone has Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is a free downloadable software that you can get from Adobe (no upgrades or paid subscriptions required).
Try opening Adobe Acrobat Reader first, then click File > Open and navigate to the downloaded PDF file to open it directly in Adobe. From there you can try printing a test page to be sure no black boxes show up on your print.
Troubleshooting Tip #3: Do NOT print directly from the Preview App on a Mac
One of the most frequent places that causes the black boxes to show up is for Mac users. We are unsure which version of a Mac Operating System this issue occurs and doesn’t, but it’s something we’ve seen happen to Mac users when using the Preview App that is the default PDF viewer.
If you are on a Mac and you experienced the Black Box printing issue, we would recommend trying one of the other methods above to see if you can get the PDF to print without the black boxes. As usual, ALWAYS print a test sheet first.
On recent testing on a Mac laptop the issue didn’t not seem to occur for one of our team members (using Mac OS 12.1 Monterey) however on an older model Mac laptop the issue did occur, so it may depend on your OS version.
Troubleshooting Tip #4: Check Your Own Tech and Updates
We know, we know… this advice is always frustrating from a tech perspective. But sometimes these typical tech suggestions do work and is always worth a try if nothing else seems to be working:
- Try restarting your computer
- Check for any software updates on your computer (Preview, Adobe, Chrome, Firefox, etc.)
- Check for any operating system updates on your computer (macOS, Windows, etc.)
If you are still experiencing issues, try to follow the troubleshooting steps one more time after doing the computer restart. If that doesn’t seem to be working, you can always reach out to us at Lily & Thistle and we will do our best to assist you by emailing us at support@lilyandthistle.com.
Now Get to Playing with Your Paper Dolls
We hope this troubleshooting guide helped you get your paper dolls printed and you are on your way to making memories with your family and paper dolls!
-Team Lily & Thistle
