It happens to all printer owners, sooner or later, having to deal with a jam. The causes can be many: bad connections, lack of sheets and so on. Fortunately, however, that it is not anything serious and that in a few moments it is possible to go back to printing as it was done until just before the “block”.
However, if you are here now and are reading this guide, it is most likely because you are dealing with such a situation and just don’t know how to cancel a print in progress . I am wrong? No, indeed. Well, given the situation I can not help but suggest you concentrate on reading the following lines.
With today’s tutorial, in fact, I will show you how to cancel a print in progress, regardless of the operating system or device used, in a way that is as simple as it is fast. Going to put into practice the special “tricks” that I am about to illustrate you will therefore see that in no time at all you will succeed in your intent without necessarily having to interrupt the current work session. I am sure that in the end you will be able to say that you are satisfied with the discovery made and go back to using your printer as usual. Happy reading and good luck for everything!
Index
- How to cancel a print in progress from the printer
- How to cancel a print in progress from a computer
- Cancel a print in progress: Windows 10
- Cancel a print in progress: Mac
- How to cancel a print in progress from smartphones and tablets
How to cancel a print in progress from the printer
Before we go ahead and show you how to cancel a print in progress using a computer or mobile device, let me give you some pointers on how to try and fix this directly from your printer .
You must know, in fact, that in some cases it is possible to cancel a print in progress by implementing some strategies that do not depend on other devices, but only on the printer. For example, to begin with, you could try pressing the stop button on the printer itself and continue to hold it down until printing is canceled.
The button to stop printing is present on most printers, old and new, out there. You can easily recognize it because in most cases the word Stop is present in its correspondence and / or it is marked with an inverted triangle icon (or an X ). Also, in the case of a touch screen printer, a Cancel or X-shaped button should appear during the print operation.
In case you are unable to locate the button dedicated to stopping a print, you could solve it by looking at the user manual of your printer. If you do not have the printed user manual of your printer, you can connect to the section dedicated to assistance and Internet support of the company that manufactured the device, and then immediately download the version in PDF format. Below you will find the links to the section in question on the websites of all the major printer manufacturers:
- HP and Samsung
- Epson
- Canon
- Brother
Furthermore, if you want to learn more about how a printer works, in order to use it more easily and make the most of all its features, I also invite you to read my tutorial in which I explain how to configure a printer .
How to cancel a print in progress from a computer
How do you say? Have you started a print from your computer but have you noticed that, for one reason or another, the procedure was not successful? I inform you immediately that you can feel absolutely calm, as this is a common occurrence and can be easily solved.
You can choose to adopt the strategy you prefer among those I will propose to you: if you are lucky, you will solve the problem in a few clicks, otherwise you will have to implement some advanced procedures. But rest assured, just follow my directions and you will see that everything will go the right way!
Cancel a print in progress: Windows 10
Are you using a PC with Windows 10 (or Windows 11 ) and need to cancel a print? No problem! You must know, in fact, that it is possible to carry out this operation by operating in different ways. The first route that I will propose to you is the one I recommend immediately, as it is simpler and, in some cases, already sufficient to solve the problem. Subsequently, in the event that the first strategy should fail, you can follow another, more complex one.
Therefore, first of all, when the printer is jammed, the first thing to do is to try to stop printing by deleting all the documents. Then click on the printer icon located in the taskbar at the bottom right. Then click on the name of your printer or, if you have several, on the Open all active printers button .
Next, locate the document you are interested in, then click on it with the mouse. At this point, click on the Document item , then on the Cancel button and, in the warning screen that will appear, click on the YES button . In this way, the document will no longer appear in the print queue and you will finally have solved your problem!
If, within a few seconds, the documents in the Windows print queue do not disappear from the latter, move on to the second method, the “drastic” one I mentioned earlier, which consists in suspending the Windows print service and manually delete the files related to the print queue.
Press, then the key combination Win + R (the Win key is the one with the Windows flag), to call up the Run panel (or search for the latter in Start), type the command services.msc in it and press the Enter key on your PC keyboard to access the Windows service management panel.
In the window that opens, double-click on the Print Spooler item and click on the Stop button to stop the print service.
Now, go to the C: \ Windows \ System32 \ spool \ PRINTERS folder (C: is the drive where the operating system is installed, so it could also be different on your PC), delete all the files you find in it (i.e. files related to the print queue) and restart the print service by going back to the Services panel and clicking on the Start button of the Print Spooler service .
Done! Wait a few seconds and you will find your printer’s print queue finally empty. All without restarting the PC. Happy?
Cancel a print in progress: Mac
Fortunately, even on macOS it is possible to cancel a print in progress, and even in this case it is a very simple operation to perform. You can, therefore, put into practice two different methods to succeed in your intent. Personally, I suggest you start with the first and then move on to the second in the unfortunate case in which you fail to achieve the desired effect.
To put into practice the first system by which to cancel a print in progress, all you have to do is click on the printer icon on the Dock, to bring the print queue window to the foreground.
If you cannot see the printer icon on the Dock and / or do not find the window with the print queues, go to System Preferences (the gear icon always present on the Dock), click on the Printers icon and scanner , click on the name of your printer from the list on the left and then click on the Open print queues … button located on the right side of the window displayed on the screen.
At this point, locate the name of the “offending” document attached to the print queues window and then click on the X located to the right of it. Repeat the steps I just indicated for each document in the queue that you intend to cancel printing.
In the event that in a few moments the documents present in the macOS print queue do not disappear from the latter, go to the second system, which consists in going to act as a Terminal , then from the command line.
Then start the Terminal by clicking on its icon, which is present in the Other folder of the Launchpad and in the Applications> Utilities folder of the Finder .
At this point, copy, type the string cancel -aand paste it into the Terminal window. Next hit the Enter button on your Mac keyboard to give the command.
Once the above steps have been carried out, the printing in progress on your Mac will stop and you will finally be able to resume using your printer. Very simple, right?
How to cancel a print in progress from smartphones and tablets
Nowadays, thanks to Wi-Fi printers , it is possible to start a print comfortably even from your smartphone. However, the unforeseen events that could happen on PCs cannot be ruled out even in the case of mobile devices. This implies, in fact, that the printing may not be successful, but there is no need to despair!
You will see, in fact, that even using a smartphone it is possible to cancel a print in a few simple steps. There is a remedy for everything!
Cancel printing in progress: Android
Do you own an Android smartphone and do you necessarily need to cancel a print? It’s your lucky day! In fact, in the next few lines, I will show you how to act and how to solve this problem directly from your mobile device.
The steps that I will show you shortly may vary depending on the smartphone and the version of Android in use. However, the operations to be carried out are basically the same and you will see that, with a little patience and attention, you will be able to solve your problem without particular problems!
When you send a print with an Android smartphone, you can view its status simply by accessing the notification panel by swiping from the top of the screen to the bottom. Later, in fact, you will notice a notification from the Android printing service that will notify you about the progress of the operation.
To cancel the printing you can proceed by pressing directly on the Cancel button , if present in the notice, or by pressing on the print notification and, on the next screen, by touching the Cancel (or Delete ) button.
If you use an app dedicated to printing (eg HP Smart) the procedure to be implemented is very similar. In fact, once printing has been started via the app, a screen will open containing the progress of the procedure. To cancel the printing, then, tap the Cancel button and that’s it!
Cancel printing in progress: iOS / iPadOS
The procedure to follow to cancel a print in progress on iOS / iPadOS is just as simple, as it only requires a few moments of attention. In fact, just as shown above, it is possible to distinguish two different cases: the default iOS / iPadOS print service and printing via a dedicated application.
In the first case, once the print has been sent by pressing the share button and, subsequently, the Print button , the Apple device will communicate directly with the printer and will start the procedure. However, in case the printing is not successful, just click on the Cancel button , present on the next screen.
Furthermore, if you use a dedicated app, the procedure will be almost identical. In fact, even in this case, starting the printing procedure, a specific screen will appear containing the progress status and the Cancel button to terminate the operation in the event of unforeseen events and / or problems.
