When a PDF won't print, the cause is almost always one of four things: the reader you are printing from, a restriction carried by the document, the weight of the file, or the print settings. Work through them in that order and you will usually find it in a couple of minutes, without reinstalling anything.
The timing is rarely kind. It happens with a contract that has to be signed today, a ticket needed at the door, a form due at a counter that closes at four. What follows is the order worth using, from the checks that cost nothing to the ones that take a little more effort.
Print from a different reader first
Open the file in another application and print from there. A browser is the quickest second opinion, since every modern one displays PDFs and prints them.
If the second reader prints correctly, the document is fine and the problem sits in the first application. If nothing prints from either one, the cause is elsewhere and you have just saved yourself an hour of settings hunting.
Check whether the document allows printing
A PDF can carry usage restrictions, and printing is one of them. Documents sent by banks, insurers, courts or schools often arrive with printing disabled or limited to low resolution. Your reader usually shows this in the document properties, where printing appears as not allowed.
When the restriction is deliberate, the clean route is to ask the sender for a printable copy. If the document is yours and you know its password, our unlock tool removes the protection so the file behaves normally again.
When the PDF won't print at all
Print a single page rather than the whole document. It is the fastest way to tell a document problem from a printer problem, and it costs one sheet instead of forty.
If the single page fails as well, clear the print queue before you send it again: a stalled job blocks everything behind it, including the one you just sent. Then look for the print as image option in your reader. It sends the page as a picture rather than as instructions the printer has to interpret, which gets past most fonts and transparency problems. It prints more slowly, and that is the trade.
It prints, but not the way it should
Cut edges, content sliding off the sheet and a document that comes out far too small are almost always a scaling matter. In the print dialogue, the page sizing option decides whether the document is reduced to fit the sheet, enlarged, or printed at its real size. Setting it to fit the printable area solves most of these cases.
When the trouble is the framing itself, a scan surrounded by a black band or a page whose content floats inside enormous margins, the fix belongs to the file rather than the printer. Our guide on cropping a PDF covers that, and a cropped page prints without the grey frame.
A very large file that never reaches the printer
Documents full of high-resolution scans can be too heavy for the printer to process, especially on a shared office device with a modest amount of memory. The job appears to be sent, then quietly disappears.
Two things usually unblock it. Print in batches of ten pages rather than all at once, so the printer digests the file in pieces. And compress the document before printing, since a lighter file travels and prints more easily.
Pages come out blank
Blank sheets from a document that displays perfectly on screen usually point to content the printer is not being given: a form layer, an annotation layer, or a page built with elements your reader shows but does not send to print. Check the print dialogue for an option covering comments and forms, which decides whether that layer is printed.
When a single page refuses to behave, converting it to an image and printing the image is a practical way through. The result is not selectable text, but a page that prints beats a page that does not.
Avoid the situation next time
Print one test page before a long document, especially one you are printing for someone else. Keep the source file, since re-exporting a fresh PDF often solves a printing problem faster than debugging the exported one. And when a document has to be printed on the day, open it and print a page as soon as it arrives rather than an hour before it is due.
If the file also refuses to open properly, our checklist on what to do when a PDF will not open deals with that side of the problem.
In short
A PDF that will not print is rarely broken. Use another reader, check whether the document allows printing, test a single page, then look at scaling and at the weight of the file. The cause is usually one of those four, and each of them takes a minute to rule out.
FAQ
Why does my PDF open normally but refuse to print?
Displaying and printing are two different operations. The document may carry a restriction on printing, the print queue may be stalled, or the file may be too heavy for the printer to process, even though it shows correctly on screen.
What does the print as image option do?
It sends each page as a picture rather than as drawing instructions the printer has to interpret. Fonts, transparency and complex graphics stop being an issue, at the cost of a slower print and a slightly softer result.
Why does my PDF print with the edges cut off?
The page sizing setting in the print dialogue is usually responsible. Choosing the option that fits the document to the printable area keeps the content inside the margins your printer reserves.
Why do my pages come out blank?
A layer that is displayed but not sent to print is the usual cause, typically a form or annotation layer. Check the option covering comments and forms in the print dialogue, and convert the page to an image if it still refuses.
Can a PDF prevent me from printing it?
Yes. A document can be issued with printing disabled or limited. Asking the sender for a printable copy is the straightforward route; removing the protection only applies to a document that belongs to you and whose password you know.