Cancel a print job before it wastes paper and ink
A stuck print job ties up your printer and wastes supplies. You can stop it in three places: on your computer, at the printer itself, or by restarting the printer. Which one works depends on where the job is stuck — some jobs are still in your computer's queue, others have already reached the printer's memory.
The fastest route is usually your computer's print queue, which you can clear in under a minute. If that does not work, you can cancel directly at the printer or power-cycle it to force a reset. Most jobs clear within seconds once you use the right method.
Key Takeaways
- Windows users can open Settings > Devices > Printers and Scanners, select the printer, and click "Open queue" to see and cancel stuck jobs.
- Mac users can go to System Settings > Printers and Scanners, select the printer, and click the delete button next to the job in the queue.
- If the queue does not show the job, the printer itself is holding it — use the printer's control panel to cancel, or power off the printer for 30 seconds.
- Restarting the print spooler service (Windows) or the printer daemon (Mac) clears jobs that refuse to delete through normal means.
- If a job keeps reappearing after you cancel it, check that the document is not set to print again automatically or that a scheduled print task is not running.
Cancel a print job on Windows
Open Settings and navigate to Devices, then Printers and Scanners. Find your printer in the list and click it. You should see an "Open queue" button — click that to see all jobs waiting to print.
Right-click the job you want to stop and select "Cancel". The job should disappear from the queue within a few seconds. If you have multiple jobs stuck, you can cancel them one at a time or select all of them at once and cancel the whole batch.
If the queue window does not open, or if the job stays in the queue after you click cancel, the print spooler service may be stuck. Press Windows key + R, type services.msc, and press Enter. Find "Print Spooler" in the list, right-click it, and select "Restart". This forces Windows to clear all jobs and restart the printing system.
Cancel a print job on Mac
Go to System Settings and select Printers and Scanners. Find your printer in the list on the left. You should see any waiting jobs listed under the printer name, with a small delete button (minus sign) next to each one. Click the delete button to cancel the job.
If the job does not appear in System Settings, or if it stays there after you delete it, open Finder, go to Applications, then Utilities, and open Console. This shows system messages — look for any errors related to your printer. If you see repeated errors, restart your Mac, which will clear the print queue completely.
Cancel directly at the printer
If the job does not appear in your computer's queue, it is already in the printer's memory. Most printers have a small screen or button panel on the front. Look for a menu button or a screen that shows the current job. Some printers display the job name and page count; others just show a progress bar.
Press the menu or cancel button — the exact label varies by brand, but it is usually marked with an X or the word "Cancel". The printer should stop immediately and clear the job from its memory. If your printer has no screen, look for a button labeled "Stop" or "Reset" and hold it for a few seconds.
If you cannot find the cancel button or the printer does not respond, turn off the printer completely, wait 30 seconds, and turn it back on. This forces the printer to forget the stuck job. Any jobs still in your computer's queue will try to print again once the printer restarts, so cancel those first if you do not want them to print.
Prevent jobs from getting stuck in the first place
Most stuck jobs happen because the printer lost connection to your computer mid-print, or because the file was corrupted. Before you print, make sure your printer is turned on and connected — either by USB cable or to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer.
If you are printing a large file, try printing a test page first to make sure the printer is responding. If the test page works but your document does not, try saving the document as a PDF and printing that instead. PDFs are more stable and less likely to cause printing errors.
If a job keeps getting stuck on the same document, the file itself may be damaged. Try opening it in a different program, or ask the person who created it to send you a fresh copy. Corrupted files are the most common reason a printer accepts a job but cannot finish it.
What to do if a job keeps reappearing
Sometimes you cancel a job, but it comes back a few minutes later. This usually means the document is set to print again automatically, or a scheduled task is sending it to the printer repeatedly. Check the program you printed from — many applications have a "Print Again" or "Reprint" option that can be left on by accident.
On Windows, open Task Scheduler (search for it in the Start menu) and look under Task Scheduler Library for any tasks related to printing. If you find one, right-click it and select "Delete". On Mac, open System Settings > General > Login Items and check whether any printing-related apps are set to open automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will canceling a print job damage my printer?
No. Canceling a job tells the printer to stop processing and clear its memory — it is the same as pressing the cancel button on the printer itself. The printer is designed to handle this safely.
What if the printer is offline but the job is still in the queue?
The job will stay in your computer's queue until you delete it or the printer comes back online. If the printer comes back online, the job will try to print again. Delete it from the queue now if you do not want it to print.
Can I cancel a job after it has already started printing?
Yes, but the printer may finish the current page before it stops. Press cancel at the printer itself for the fastest stop. Jobs canceled from your computer may take a few seconds to reach the printer.
Why does my printer say it is printing but nothing comes out?
The job may be stuck in the printer's memory without actually moving paper. Cancel the job at the printer, check that paper is loaded and the tray is closed, then try printing a test page. If the test page works, the original file may have been corrupted.
Do I need to restart my computer to clear the print queue?
Not usually. Restarting the print spooler service (Windows) or restarting the printer itself clears most stuck jobs. Restart your computer only if those steps do not work.