Platform differences
Printy runs on Windows and macOS, but it does not print the same way on both. Windows is the platform it was built for; the macOS path exists as well and is not identical.
The short version
Section titled “The short version”| Windows | macOS | |
|---|---|---|
| How pages reach the printer | Printy renders each page itself and places the pixels | Handed to the system print service |
| Oversized content, fit-to-page on | Shrunk to fit | Shrunk to fit |
| Oversized content, fit-to-page off | Shrunk to fit | Cropped |
| Fallback renderer for difficult PDFs | SumatraPDF, if configured | none |
| Needs a separate PDF library | Yes — ships with the installer | No |
The difference that matters
Section titled “The difference that matters”The intended rule is the same on both platforms:
Inhalt an Seite anpassen off means never enlarge — not never scale. Content larger than the paper is still shrunk, because printing an oversized page at natural size pushes content off the edge, and that is lost data rather than fidelity.
On Windows that holds. Printy rasterises the page and positions it, so it can shrink an oversized page while refusing to enlarge a small one.
On macOS it does not. Printing goes through the system print service, which offers a “scale to fit” mode but has no “shrink but never enlarge” mode. With fit-to-page off, Printy therefore passes the document through unscaled — and a page larger than the paper is cropped.
What this means in practice
Section titled “What this means in practice”- Printing documents that are never larger than your paper: no difference. This is most scanners and most PDFs.
- Printing labels, receipts or small scans with fit-to-page off: no difference — that is what the setting is for, and it works.
- Printing documents that can exceed the paper size, with fit-to-page off: Windows shrinks them, macOS cuts off the overhang.
Other differences
Section titled “Other differences”PDF rendering
Section titled “PDF rendering”On Windows, Printy reads PDFs with a bundled library. It ships inside the installer; the portable variant carries it as a separate file that must stay beside the executable.
If a particular PDF defeats that library, Printy can hand it to SumatraPDF instead — install it and set the path under Einstellungen → Erweitert. This applies to rendering problems only; a printer that is off is never treated as a rendering problem.
On macOS the system reads the PDF, so neither the library nor the fallback applies. The settings for them are still shown but do nothing.
Printers
Section titled “Printers”Both platforms offer the printers the system knows about, with the system default preselected, and both ask the printer what it supports so that duplex and colour are not offered where they are unavailable.
Autostart
Section titled “Autostart”Mit Windows starten registers a login item on both platforms, despite what the label says.
Which platform to deploy
Section titled “Which platform to deploy”Windows, for a machine whose job is printing. It is the platform the printing path was written for, it is the one the release checklist is run against on every release, and it is the one without the caveat above.
macOS is fully usable for the ordinary case — watch a folder, print PDFs that fit the paper — and it is what Printy is developed on. Take the fit-to-page limitation into account before relying on it for documents of varying size.