Adobe PDF printing black background on Mac

[hugh_8350]

Hi, I use Acrobat on a Mac Book Air.  When I print an a PDF it prints a black background.  I have looked online and tried downloading a new driver etc but to no avail.  I had this occur before but it self corrected eventually.  Alas it is back and is very frustrating.  Any tips would be appreciated.  

I am using Continuous release Adobe V 2025.001.20476

Mac Book Air 2020

MacOS Sequoia V15.4.1

Thanks 🙂

[Luke Jennings3]

What program created the pdf? Does this happen to every pdf you print? Does this happen when you try to print a pdf from another program, such as a browser? Can you upload a sample pdf so we can take a look?

Try resetting your printer, go to System Settings> Printers & Scanners> click on your printer and remove it. Click on Add Printer and select your printer.

[Tariq Ahmad Dar · Accepted solution]

Hi @hugh_8350

Sorry for the troubled experience, and thank you for reaching out and providing related details. 

Based on your setup (macOS and printing to a physical printer), this could be related to how Acrobat and macOS handle rendering for print, especially if the PDF contains transparency, background fills, or complex layers. Here are a things we can try:

1. Use Preview for comparison:

• Open the same PDF in the macOS Preview app and try printing from there.

• If the issue does not occur in Preview, it suggests that Acrobat’s interaction with the print system may be causing the black background.

2. Check Acrobat’s Accessibility settings:

• Go to Acrobat > Preferences > Accessibility

• Make sure “Replace Document Colors” is turned off. If it’s enabled, it might cause unexpected color behavior when printing.

3. Try “Save as PDF,” then print again:

• In Acrobat, go to File > Print, and from the macOS print dialog, use the PDF > Save as PDF option.

• Then open that new file and print it — this sometimes flattens layers or resets problematic background content.

4. Ensure your printer drivers and macOS are up to date.

• This type of issue can sometimes stem from a printer-specific rendering bug.

Let us know how it works

~Tariq

[hugh_8350]

Thanks Tariq and Luke for your generous help.  It is an intermittant problem that happens on PDFs that are sent to me so unsure as to what program is used to create them but I suspect Word and Excel.  It seems to have gone away again but I will try your suggestions if and when it recurs.  Thanks again. H

[AnandSri]

Hello @hugh_8350 

I hope you are doing well. We are glad to know that the issue is gone. Please feel free to reach out if you need any further assistance with the issue. 

Thanks again for your time and cooperation.

Regards,

Anand Sri.