Why Is Brother Printer Offline On Mac? [5 Easy Steps To Fix]

When someone buys a new brother printer for the first time, they do not know about printer technicalities. If the printer doesn’t print or scan and shows them any errors on the printer. They might get upset with it and start seeking the technician for help.

If you have tried to print something, but you keep getting brother printer is an offline error on the mac pc. This problem can be an irritating moment for you. But don’t be upset about it because I can assist you in getting your brother printer back online on the Mac computer.

Note-This is the guide for mac only, If you are dealing with the same issues on the windows 10. please visit How to fix brother printer says offline windows 10 .

Why Does my mac pc keeps saying, “brother printer is offline”? 

When you see the brother printer says offline error on the mac pc. There is a connection error among the brother printer and the Mac pc. That happens due to several basic causes.

1. The printer is in sleep mode.
2. The printer is failing the network connectivity.
3. Mac pc haven’t joined the network.
4. Mac is using the wrong printer.
5. The driver isn’t working.
6. Other issues related to security.

Quick Things to check before troubleshooting- 

• Make sure the brother printer and mac pc are within the wireless range. The gap between the mac and router shouldn’t be more than 10 meters.
• If the brother machine is in sleep or idle mode, it will show the mac’s offline error. If you have a flashing or solid amber light on the printer, press the power button once to wake it up.
• Cancel all print jobs and then restart the mac, printer & router once.
• If you are using the brother machine via USB cable, please disconnect it from the mac and printer and reconnect it.
• Also, replace the USB cable to check if the cable is faulty or not.

How would I get my brother printer back online on a mac computer?

Connect the mac and brother machine with the same wireless network- 

Whenever you deal with the brother printer offline, mac error, please check the wireless link status. If the Wi-Fi light is off or amber, the brother machine has not joined the wireless network. In such a position, you ought to join the wireless network on brother printer.

• Power on the Brother wireless printer.
• Reach to the network option and hit the ok key.
• Press the WIFI setup and hit the WIFI setup wizard option.
• Pick your network name and press the ok again.
• Now input the wireless password and press ok or connect key.

If you still face the connectivity issue: how to fix brother printer won’t connect to wifi? 

Also, check the internet connectivity in the Mac computer too. The MacBook and printer should have joined a similar network.

Setup the brother printer as primary on mac pc- 

If your brother printer is unable to print the documents, please choose the brother printer as default.

• Let’s Open the system preferences tab on the mac.
• You need to click on the printers & Scanners (in some OS, you will see print & scan).
• In the default printer section, please pick up your brother printer as primary using the drop-down menu.
• Now wait for 5 seconds and then give a test print command. Let’s see does your brother printer get back online on the mac pc or not?

Remove & re-add the printer on pc- 

If you have chosen your brother printer as primary but still can’t, it show offline status. Please eliminate the brother printer from the mac pc and re-add the device.

• Let’s open the Printers & Scanners tab. (press apple icon >> system preference)
• Select the Brother machine from the table and press the – button available below the table.
• Select press delete printer button on the pop-up window.
• Now click on the + symbol available below the printer table.
• Let the computer completes the search for an available printer.
• Pick your Brother machine from the list and press the add button.

Uninstall & re-install the software- 

Sometimes, the Brother printer keeps going offline on mac because of a software issue. The software might be outdated; that’s why mac is failing the ping from brother printer.

In that case, you need to update the brother printer software using the details given below.

• Let’s get remove the brother printer from the printers & scanners (as we did earlier).
• Now press the Go button from the finder bar and reach the Macintosh HD >> Library >> Printers. Pick up the brother folder and drag it into the trash box.
• Finally, the driver has been removed from the mac. Now it’s time to install a new driver. So go to the brother website and download the latest driver for your brother machine.
• Run the setup on the mac and enter the admin password.
• Now follow the process to install the driver on mac.

If you face any difficulties, please visit how to install the brother printer on mac?

Disable the firewall on mac- 

Apart from the driver issues on mac, sometimes, mac users get the brother printer says offline error because of a firewall issue. When the firewall blocks the transmission between the printer and mac, you will see the blocked error.

To get your brother printer back online on the mac, you need to turn off the firewall settings.

• Open the System Preferences again.
• Press the security & privacy button.
• Click on the Firewall tab, and turn off the firewall.

After changing these settings, your brother printer will no longer show you offline error on the mac. If you still find some other issues related to the brother printer on the mac. Please describe it in the comment box; we will try our best to come up with the solution.

How do I find  brother printer default password?