Managing Print Jobs on Local and Remote Printers

You manage print jobs and printers using the print management window. If the printer is configured on your system, you can access the print management window by completing the following steps:

1. Access the Printers And Faxes folder on the print server you want to manage.

2. Double-click the icon of the printer you want to work with.

If the printer isn't configured on your system, you can manage the printer remotely by doing the following:

1. Start Windows Explorer and then use My Network Places to access the print server.

2. Access the Printers And Faxes folder on the print server and then double-click the icon of the printer you want to work with.

Using the Print Management Window

You can now manage print jobs and printers using the print management window shown in Figure 17-8. The print management window shows information about documents in the printers. This information tells you the following:

• Document Name

  The document file name, which can include the name of the application that printed it.

• Status

  The status of the print job, which can include the document's status as well as the printer's status. Document status entries you'll see include Printing, Spooling, Paused, Deleting, and Restarting. Document status can be preceded by the printer status, such as Printer Off-Line.

• Owner

  The document's owner.

• Pages

  The number of pages in the document.

• Size

  The document size in kilobytes or megabytes.

• Submitted

  The time and date the print job was submitted.

• Port

  The port used for printing, such as LPT1, COM3, or File (if applicable ).

Figure 17-8. You manage print jobs and printers using the print management window.

Pausing the Printer and Resuming Printing

Sometimes you need to pause a printer. Using the print management window, you do this by selecting the Pause Printing option on the Printer menu (a check mark indicates that the option is selected). When you pause printing, the printer completes the current job and then puts all other jobs on hold.

To resume printing, select the Pause Printing option a second time. This should remove the check mark next to the option.

Emptying the Print Queue

You can use the print management window to empty the print queue and delete all its contents. To do this, on the Printer menu select the Cancel All Documents option.

Pausing, Resuming, and Restarting Individual Document Printing

You set the status of individual documents using the Document menu in the print management window. To change the status of a document, follow these steps:

1. Select the document in the print management window.

2. Use the Pause, Resume, and Restart options on the Document menu to change the status of the print job.

   • Pause Puts the document on hold and lets other documents print

   • Resume Tells the printer to resume printing the document from where it left off

   • Restart Tells the printer to start printing the document again from the beginning

Removing a Document and Canceling a Print Job

To remove a document from the printer or cancel a print job, follow these steps:

1. Select the document in the print management window.

2. Select Cancel from the Document menu or press Delete.

Note

When you cancel a print job that's currently printing, the print device might continue to print part or all of the document. This is because most print devices cache documents in an internal buffer, and the print device might continue to print the contents of this cache.

Checking the Properties of Documents in the Printer

Document properties can tell you many things about documents that are in the printer, such as the page source, orientation, and size. You can check the properties of a document in the printer by doing either of the following:

• Select the document in the print management window and then, from the Document menu, select Properties.

• Double-click the document name in the print management window.

Setting the Priority of Individual Documents

Scheduling priority determines when documents print. Documents with higher priority print before documents with lower priority. You can set the priority of individual documents in the printer by doing the following:

1. Select the document in the print management window and then, from the Document menu, select Properties.

2. In the General tab, use the Priority slider to change the document's priority. The lowest priority is 1 and the highest is 99.

Scheduling the Printing of Individual Documents

In a busy printing environment you might need to schedule the printing of documents in the printer. For example, you might want large print jobs of low priority to print at night. To set the printing schedule, follow these steps:

1. Select the document in the print management window and then, from the Document menu, select Properties.

2. In the General tab, select the Only From option button and then specify a time interval. The time interval you set determines when the job is allowed to print. For example, you can specify that the job can print only between the hours of midnight and 5:00 a.m.