Keep Your Mac Awake for Printing

AutoPrintEmail needs your Mac to stay awake to check for new emails and send them to your printer. If your Mac goes to sleep, new emails won't print until you wake it up.

Here's how to configure your Mac's energy settings to keep it running 24/7.

Table of Contents

• Open System Settings
• Configure Energy Settings
  • For MacBooks (on power adapter)
  • For Mac desktops (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, Mac Pro)
• What About "Put hard disks to sleep"?
• Troubleshooting
  • Emails aren't printing overnight
  • MacBook in clamshell mode
• Summary

Open System Settings

1. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen
2. Select System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
3. Navigate to Energy (or Energy Saver on older versions)

Configure Energy Settings

The key setting you need to enable is:

"Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off"

This allows your Mac to keep running in the background even when the screen turns off to save energy.

For MacBooks (on power adapter)

1. Make sure your MacBook is plugged into power
2. In Energy settings, look for "Power Adapter" options
3. Enable "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off"

Your MacBook will now stay awake when plugged in, even with the lid closed (clamshell mode).

For Mac desktops (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, Mac Pro)

1. In Energy settings, enable "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off"
2. Optionally, set "Turn display off after" to a reasonable time (like 10 minutes) to save energy while keeping the Mac running

What About "Put hard disks to sleep"?

You can leave this enabled. Modern Macs use SSDs which don't actually "sleep" in the traditional sense, and this setting won't affect AutoPrintEmail's ability to monitor your email.

Troubleshooting

Emails aren't printing overnight

If you find that emails sent overnight aren't printing:

1. Double-check that "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off" is ON
2. Ensure your Mac is plugged into power (for MacBooks)
3. Check that AutoPrintEmail is running (look for the icon in your menu bar)

MacBook in clamshell mode

To use a MacBook with the lid closed:

1. Connect an external display, keyboard, and mouse (or just power if you don't need to see it)
2. Enable "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off"
3. Close the lid - your Mac will continue running

Summary

The most important setting is "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off". With this enabled, your Mac will stay awake and AutoPrintEmail will keep monitoring your email inbox, even when the display is off.