Administering Print and Modem Queues

In Mac OS 10.3, the majority of printer configuration is administered via a single application called the Printer Setup Utility, shown in Figure 9-13. There are three ways to access the Printer Setup Utility. The first and most direct way is to open it from inside the Utilities folder within the Applications folder. Another way is to open it via the Set Up Printers... button located in the Print & Fax Preference pane. The final way to access the Printer Setup Utility is to select Edit Printer List from the Printer pop-up menu that resides in all Print dialogs.

Figure 9-13: Printer configuration occurs in the Printer Setup Utility.

The Printer Setup Utility also has the ability to display the status of all print and fax jobs pending; this information can be found in what is referred to as the printer’s print queue or a fax’s Modem queue. Open the Printer Setup Utility (located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder) and either double-click on a printer in the Printer List whose queue you want to manage or select the printer and choose Printers Show Jobs (z-O) to open a window for that printer’s queue, as shown in Figure 9-14. Here you can delete a job, hold a job, resume a job, or stop the queue entirely. The Utility button displays printer-specific maintenance software if available. Printer utility software is usually supplied by the printer manufacturer and typically performs operations such as alignment and cleaning of inkjet print heads.

Figure 9-14: The queue depicted above is from a HP DeskJet 5550.

Tip

If you are on the road and you want to print, but your printer is unavailable, you can stop the print queue and then issue the print command. Even if you turn off the computer, print jobs are retained. When you can connect back to the printer the document will be automatically printed.

To view the Modem queue, select Show Fax List from the View menu in the Printer Setup Utility and either double-click on a modem in the Modem List whose queue you want to manage or select the modem and choose Printers Show Jobs (z-O) to open a window for that modem’s queue as seen in Figure 9-15.

Figure 9-15: Except that it is managing modem queues, the administration of the Fax List is identical in operation to a Printer List.

For those of us who are not satisfied with status quos, the toolbars on the Printer and Fax Lists, as well as those on the print and modem queues, can all be customized in a similar fashion to a toolbar in a Finder window. To do so select Customize Toolbar... from the View menu and a custom options pane will materialize out of the corresponding window, as depicted in Figure 9-16.

Figure 9-16: You can choose from many options.

You can also customize the columns in the Printer List and Fax List to contain any of the following headings: Kind (inkjet, PostScript, and so on.), Host (a computer sharing a printer), Status (Stopped, Printing, and so on.), Location (location of printer), and Jobs (name of current job printing). To do so, open the desired Printer List or the Fax List and make your selections under the Columns option in the View menu.

Other abilities of interest in the Printer Setup Utility include the following:

• Make Default: Determines from a list of printers which one will be the default. To select a default printer, highlight the desired printer in the Printer List and select Make Default from either the toolbar or the Printers menu. You can also use the key combination z-D.

• In Menu: Provides the option to choose which printers will appear in the Printer menu in the Print dialog. To remove the printer, deselect it under the menu column in the Printer List.

• Show Info: Where you specify the printer’s name and location, specify the Printer Model, and configure any installable options if available. To display currently selected options, highlight the desired printer in the Printer List and click on Show Info in the toolbar or select Show Info from the Printers menu or use the key combination z-I.