Printers are the perfect way to create physical versions of electronic receipts, invoices, forms, letters, emails, and more to keep accurate records. Users can print documents one at a time or schedule print jobs for multi-page reports to share with others. But sometimes you discover that you don’t need to print as many files as you thought. It is best to cancel jobs and save paper in those cases.
If you’re not sure how to cancel a print job, read on. In this article, you will learn how to erase the printer on Mac and Windows.
How to cancel a print job on a Mac
When a printer is connected to your Mac, a p in the settings window allows you to view any scheduled documents. Although you cannot stop printing already processed data, it is possible to cancel a job mid-stream. Some pages still print, but those waiting in the queue after the active job are stopped indefinitely.
While smaller files are deleted quickly, large documents take a while to delete. Therefore, it is best to pause a bulk task before stopping it.
Option 1 to cancel a print job on macOS
- Click on the “printer” icon in the Mac Dock (the list of icons at the bottom of the screen).
- Select “Jobs” and “Show my works.”
- Select the “pause” icon to temporarily stop the next print job.
- Click on the “X” to remove a document from the queue.
Option 2 to cancel a print job on macOS
Another similar process uses a different menu to achieve the same results.
- Open the “Apple Menu” on your Mac.
- Select “System preferences.”
- Choose “Printers and scanners.”
- Select the printer you are currently using.
- Click on “Open print queue.”
- Click “Choose jobs” followed by “Show my works.”
If multiple other users share the same printer, it is impossible to delete jobs that you did not submit. You can only cancel your scheduled tasksbut you can always see the entire queue by selecting “Show everyone’s jobs” in the “Choose jobs” p.
Depending on the application or software, you can directly cancel a print job without using the “Printers and Scanners” menu. These apps may display a small pop-up window with a progress bar and a cancel button. In these cases, you can click the cancel button immediately to stop the printing process.
Cancel a print job on Windows 10/11 PC
Windows users have similar ways to cancel a print job. Only those that the printer has not completely processed can be canceled.
Method 1 to cancel a print job in Windows 10/11
- Look for the “Printer icon” on the Windows taskbar.
- Right click on the icon and select “Open all active printers.”
- Choose from the list of printers.
- Open the printer dialog box and choose the job you want to cancel.
- Right click and select “Cancel.”
- Confirm your decision by selecting “Yeah.”
- Wait for the print job to disappear, and then close the dialog box.
Method 2 to cancel a print job in Windows 10/11
The Control Panel is also where you can cancel a print job. Here are the steps.
- Guy “Control Panel” in the Windows search bar, then select “Open.”
- Select “View devices and printers” in “Hardware and Sound”.
- Right click on the printer and select the “See what is printing” either “[##] document(s) in queue” option.
- Right click on the job to open the options.
- Select “Cancel.”
- Click on “Yeah” to confirm.
Some of these options may have slightly different names depending on Windows versions. However, you can expect to use the same process, even on Windows 8.
As with the Mac, users can cancel print jobs directly within some programs after clicking a button.
Use the Cancel button on your printer for Mac and Windows
If none of the above instructions work to cancel a print job, it may be too late to stop processing it or there may be an error. Fortunately, many printers today have a cancel button that prevents them from continuing to print hard copies. Depending on the exact model, turning off the printer will likely reset its queue.
In closing, you may change your mind about printing a document, but printers still need human input to stop doing their job. With Windows or Mac, you can quickly clear the queue and cancel print jobs in minutes. If that doesn’t work, the printer’s cancel button should work. During Windows 7 and earlier, stopping print jobs often didn’t work well in the operating system. I would click to cancel the print job and it wouldn’t stop, or I would choose to delete the job and often it would do nothing! It has certainly improved over the years.
Print Job Cancellation FAQ
Can restarting my computer clear the print queue?
Restarting your computer may reset the print queue, but it is not guaranteed. It is best to turn off the printer after restarting the PC and see if there are still files in the print queue.
How do I delete the printer spool?
Follow these instructions to delete files from the print queue through the printer spool.
1. Type “Services” in the Windows search bar.
2. Find “Print Spooler Device”.
3. Right click on the print queue and select “Stop”.
4. Press Windows key + E and go to this location:
• C:>Windows>System32>Spool>Printers
5.Go to the folder and press Ctrl + A.
6. Press Shift + Delete to delete those files.
7. Go back to “Services” and right click on the print queue again.
8. Click “Start”.
