EMPTYING THE PRINT SPOOLER

Note: Print jobs get stacked up in the Print Spooler when you run out of paper or ink, when a piece of paper jams in the printer, when the computer momentarily freezes, when the printer is off or the printer cable becomes loose or disconnected, when the printer software is damaged or corrupted, or when the wrong printer is initially selected. If you keep clicking on the Print button, you will cause more print jobs to stack up in the Print Spooler and further exacerbate the problem. Purge all print jobs with these instructions, fix the problem with your printer, then try printing again.

1) Click on Start, then on Printers and Faxes. If you don’t see Printers and Faxes, click on Start, then on Control Panel, then double-click on the Printers and Faxes icon. (Or click on Start, then on Control Panel, then on Printers and Other Hardware.)

    For Windows Vista, click on the round Start button, then on Control Panel, then on Printers under Hardware and Sound.

2) Double-click on the icon for your printer (for example, the HP Deskjet 5650 or Dell A920  printer).

3) If you see print job(s) waiting to be printed out, click on Printer, then on Cancel All Documents.

4) Click on Yes.

5) Wait a few moments for the computer to delete the print job(s).

6) If the word, “Paused,” appears next to the name of your printer (e.g., HP Deskjet 5650 or Dell A920) at the top of the window, do the following to allow printing to resume:

1) Click on Printer, then on Pause Printing to remove the check mark next to  üPause Printing.

2) If you see "Use Printer Online" and it is not grayed out (which means that the printer is offline or not electronically connected to the computer), then click on Use Printer Online to reconnect it to the computer.

7) Close the Printers and Faxes window.

8) Try printing again.

9) If the printer still  refuses to print, repeat these steps, but this time, close all open programs, then restart the computer and the printer. Click on Cancel if a window pops up on the screen asking if you want to cancel all print jobs.

10) If the printer still will not print, then see our Printer Troubleshooting Checklist