Before following any steps below, install drivers for the printer on your Mac as if you were connecting to it directly via USB. If you are lucky your Mac will detect the printer automatically, but if you need to download the driver yourself, you’ll have to visit the manufacturer’s website to find the drivers, (they might be identified as "CUPS"). Some driver installer software might attempt to detect a connected printer. Let it do so, even though it will fail, because this may be necessary to complete installation of the drivers.
Perhaps it goes without saying that any Wi-Fi printers should be already configured to connect to the same network as your Mac.
How to add your WiFi printer
Before you can print, you need to make your printer available in the Print dialog box. To do that, go to System Preferences then Printers and Scanners, and click the ‘+’ at the bottom of the list of printers on the left hand side.In most cases, you should keep the ‘Default’ tab selected. Your Mac will hunt for printers on the network to which its connected and display them in the window when it finds them. It should be able to find most modern wireless and wired network printers this way. When it’s found the one you want, click on it and look at the options at the bottom of the window. If the printer supports AirPint, that will be displayed opposite Use. If not, the name of the printer will be displayed.
If the printer supports AirPrint, and you want to use it, you can click Add now. If it doesn’t, or you want to use the printer’s own drivers, click the name of the printer. You should now see a message telling you that the drivers are on Apple’s servers and by clicking Add, you’ll download them. Click Add.
If Apple doesn’t have the drivers you need, you’ll need to open a web browser, navigate to the manufacturer’s website, find the drivers for your printer, and then download and install them, before returning to the Add Printer section of System Preferences.
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Configure the printer
How to add a network printer
The process above can also be used to add a printer connected to your network by Ethernet. Your Mac should recognise it via Bonjour and allow you to add it from the Default tab of Printers and Scanners. If not, you’ll need to find its IP address (perhaps from your router’s admin page) or host name and add that in the IP tab.
If the printer you want to add doesn’t have a WiFi or Ethernet option, you can still make it available on the network. Plug it directly into a Mac on the network, or into a USB port on your router if it supports printers, then add it from Printers and Scanners.
Click on it in the Printers and Scanners sidebar, and check the box labelled ‘Share this printer on the network.’ Then click on Sharing Preferences to specify how and with whom you want to share it.