Print Priority


Much like configuring a schedule for a printer, you can also tweak printer availability by specifying how print jobs are sent to the device. For example, let's say that you don't want to make the Photo Printer completely unavailable between the hours of 9 and 5, but you want the Text Printer jobs to go the head of the line if both are competing for access to the same device during these hours. You could address the situation by assigning a higher priority to the Text Printer.

Again, you'll configure this printer setting from the Advanced tab of the printer's Properties dialog box. Using the Priority spin box, you rank the priority of the printer from 1 to 99, as shown in Figure 8-10. Note that the default priority for a printer is 1, the lowest ranking.

Figure 8-10. Assigning a higher priority for a printer.


When the Print Manager polls for print jobs, any jobs in the queue that have been sent by the higher-priority printer get serviced before jobs sent by the lower-priority printer.

Jobs That Are Already Printing Don't Count

Here's the rub when it comes to print priority: If a print job is already printing, it won't be interrupted by another job with a higher priority. If you have a set of 10 photos in the midst of printing, and you figure the job will take 10 minutes, so you want to print out a letter first, grab a cup of coffee instead. In this case, the letter won't usurp the Photo Printer's control of the ink cartridges.




Spring Into Windows XP Service Pack 2
Spring Into Windows XP Service Pack 2
ISBN: 013167983X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 275
Authors: Brian Culp

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