Brother printers are known for quality output and are considered reliable as well. Several models have been launched by the brand over so many years that offer a huge range of remarkable features. No matter what Brother Printer model you own, one error is common to all of them and that is when it shows offline. When the printer goes offline, the Brother Printer stops printing. If you are sailing in the same boat, in this guide, you are going to get some useful information regarding the ‘Brother Printer is Offline’ error.
Brother Printers can go offline on Windows devices as well as on Mac. In this guide, we are going to discuss what should be your action plan to deal with offline error on Mac devices.
Let’s start with the most important question i.e.
What makes Brother Printers Go Offline?
Here are the possible reasons that make a Brother Printer go offline:
- The printer is not getting adequate power supply and is not On.
- Check your printer for common printing errors.
- The wireless Brother printer is not connected to a network.
- Your Brother Printer doesn’t have the updated firmware.
- The printer you are trying to print from has not been set as default.
- Printer status has been set as offline.
- You have installed an incorrect printer driver.
Steps to Fix ‘Brother Printer Says Offline’ Error on Mac
After knowing why is your brother printer going offline, here are the steps you need to follow if your Brother printer is offline on your mac device to get it back online:
Step-1 Verify the Brother Printer is On and Check for Errors
Before you begin with in-depth troubleshooting, just check if the printer has been turned on properly and is not facing any errors. For this, check your Brother Printer’s screen i.e. LCD; if the screen is blank, the printer is in the off state. So turn it on or wake it up from the sleep mode. Ensure that the socket is working fine and the specified switch is On.
Once the LCD is on, check if there are any error messages like ‘Paper Jam’ or ‘Ink Cartridge’ empty as if this is the case, you will need to fix the errors first.
Step-2 Verify the Brother Printer is Connected to Mac
Next, you have to ensure that your Brother printer is properly connected to your Mac device using the following tips:
- For USB cable connection, the cable must be properly and directly attached to both printer and computer without using any hub.
- For an Ethernet connection, the cable must be connected to both the printer and the router; check the IP address by taking out a network configuration page.
- For a wireless connection, you can check the IP address by printing a network configuration page.
This is how you can connect a brother printer to Mac and by doing this, you can bring it online.
Step-3 Check the Brother Printer Status
It can also happen that your Brother printer status has been set to ‘Pause’ and that is why the printer is showing offline on Mac. If your printer went to sleep or ran out of paper while printing, it will show offline and here is how you can get it back online:
- Click on your Brother printer’s icon
- Then hit the option for ‘Open Print Queue’.
- In the menu bar at the top, check the printer status.
- Now, click on the ‘Resume’ button to continue printing.
Step-4 Check if You Have Right Brother Printer Driver Installed
Drivers are indispensable for a printer to perform smoothly and even if it is one of the renowned brands like Brother, you need to ensure that you have installed the right driver for your brother printer so that it doesn’t keep going offline on your Mac device.
Here are the steps:
- Open Apple Menu, go to System Preferences and click on Print & Scan or Printers & Scanners.
- Then from the Printers section, select your Brother printer.
- Now you have to check the printer driver by checking the information given next to ‘Kind’.
If the printer driver is selected as AirPrint, you will need to add the CUPS driver to Mac using the given steps:
- Launch Apple Menu, click on System Preferences, and then click on Print & Scan or Printers & Scanners.
- Then click on the ‘Add’ (+) button.
- At the top of the dialog box, click on the Default icon,
- Then select your Brother printer from the list.
- Also, in the Use list, make sure that you have selected ‘XXXXXXX + CUPS’ where XXXXXXX is the model name.
- Again, click on ‘Add’ and you will see your printer in the Printers section.
- Now you can exit the ‘Apple Menu’ by clicking on ‘Quit System Preferences’.
If you are getting ‘Brother Printer Driver is Unavailable’ error, you need to perform separate troubleshooting.
Step-5 Verify the Brother Printer is Set as Default
The Brother printer needs to be set as default if you want it to stay online and print. It can also happen that more than one printing device is connected to your Mac device making it difficult to set one of them as default and that is the reason brother printer keeps going offline on Mac. So if your Brother printer has been removed from the default position, you can follow the given steps to give it the status again:
- Firstly, click on the Apple menu button and then select ‘System and Preferences’.
- Move to the ‘Print’ menu and click on ‘Fax or Print command and Scanners’.
- From the drop-down menu of the default printer, select your Brother printer.
Step-6 Delete all the Print Jobs
Next, you can try to remove all the print jobs to bring your Brother Printer back online, here’s how to do it:
- Open the Apple menu and click on ‘System and Preferences’.
- Click on the ‘Scan and Print’ option and then select your Brother printing machine.
- Next, hit the button for ‘Open Print Queue’ and remove the printing job after selecting them.
Step-7 Update the Brother Printer Driver
To ensure the smooth functioning of your Brother printer, you need to update the driver regularly. It will help in resolving the offline error bringing it online and will also fix other printing issues with your Brother device. Here is how you can update the Brother Printer driver:
- Navigate to the Brother Printer’s Driver Download page.
- Look for your Brother Printer model and when you find it, click on it.
- After selecting the model, you will be asked to select your operating system i.e. Mac and the version you have.
- Once you are done selecting the operating system and its version, you will be presented with the full driver and software package and drivers for your printer along with its release date and size.
- You can simply download the driver by clicking on it and follow the prompts.
- Once the drive is downloaded, click on the file and follow the instructions to install it on your Mac device.
Step-8 Remove and Re-add your Brother Printer
Next, to get your Brother printer online, you can try removing and re-adding it to your Mac device. For that matter, follow the given directions:
- Go System Preferences and click to select the Brother Printer.
- Move to the bottom of the list and click on the (-) option to remove it.
- After waiting for a while, click on the (+) button in the same window to connect your brother printer to Mac. Now try to print and see if your printer shows online
Step-9 Reset Mac Printing System
If nothing works, you can try to reset your Mac operating system as this will make the required changes in the printing setting. Follow the given steps to reset your Mac system:
- Open System Preferences and then open the ‘Printer and scanner’ option.
- Check the printer’s name-list that is given on the left side of the window.
- In the left panel, right-click and select the option ‘Reset Printing System’
- All the printer and drivers installed on your Mac device will be removed.
- Now you can re-install your Brother printer from the start as explained above and start printing.