How to Cancel a Print Job and Clear Printer Queue

Lisa Mildon is a Lifewire writer and an IT professional with 30 years of experience. Her writing has appeared in Geekisphere and other publications.

What to Know

• Cancel from printer: Press Cancel, Reset, or Stop > remove paper tray, or turn printer off.
• From application: Most applications briefly display cancellation window. Select Cancel option.
• From Windows Settings: Select Devices >Printers & scanners >Open queue >Document >Cancel.

This article explains how to cancel a print job and clear the printing queue on a Windows 10 PC.

Canceling a Print Job

There are a few different approaches to canceling a print job: via buttons or settings on the printer itself, from an application dialog box, from Windows Settings, through the Windows Taskbar, or from the Windows Control Panel. If all else fails, resetting the print spooler may solve the problem.

Cancel a Print Job Through Your Printer

Although mobile to all-in-one printers differ according to manufacturer and model, they all have similar functionality that can help stop a print job:

• Cancel, Reset, or Stop buttons: Most printers have a Cancel, Reset, or Stop button physically on the printer itself. It may take a combination of these buttons to stop a print job or clear the print queue. See your printer manufacturer's website or manual to learn more.
• Remove paper tray: Delay a print job by removing the paper tray. This will give you more time to cancel or clear your print job without wasting paper.
• Turn the printer off: Sometimes turning your printer off and then back on again will clear the print job. This isn't always the case, however.

It's worth a try to turn off the printer, unplug the power for a few seconds to let the printer reset fully, and then plug it back in and turn it on again.

Cancel a Print Job Through an Application

During printing, most applications will briefly display a dialog box that offers a cancellation option. This is the fastest way to cancel a print job, but you have to be quick to catch it and select Cancel.

How to Clear the Print Queue Through Windows Settings

It's fast and effective to go into Windows Settings and cancel a print job and clear the print queue, if necessary.

You can also access the printer queue through the printer icon in the Taskbar.

1. Select the Windows icon, then select the gear icon to open Windows settings.

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On the left-hand side, select Printers & scanners.

Select the printer on which to cancel the print job.

Select Open queue.

The print queue should open showing all print jobs for the printer you selected. Select the document, then select Document >Cancel.

You can also right-click the print job and select Cancel. To cancel all print jobs, select Printer > Cancel All Documents.

Select Yes. Your print job is now canceled.

How to Clear the Print Queue Through Control Panel

While not very visible in Windows 10, the Control Panel is still available to use for troubleshooting and other tasks, including clearing your print job.

1. Within the Windows Taskbar, select Search or Cortana in the bottom left side of your screen. In the search box, enter Control Panel and select it.

Select Devices and Printers.

You should see all of your external devices and printers. Select the printer for which you want to clear the print job.

You can also right-click the printer, then select See what's printing. A third way to access this option is to double-click the printer or right-click and select Open in a new window, then select See what's printing.

How to Fix a Stuck Print Job

Perhaps you don't need to stop a print job, but rather clear one that isn't working properly. There are additional steps to regain control of your printer.

1. Go to your Taskbar and right-click the printer icon.

Select Open All Active Printers.

Select Document to find a few troubleshooting print options: Pause, Resume, and Restart. To temporarily halt printing on a stuck job so other print jobs might print, select Pause. Then, once the other print jobs complete, select Resume. Alternatively, select Printer >Pause Printing.

How to Reset the Print Spooler

If all else fails in getting a stuck print job to print, try to clear the Print Spooler. The Print Spooler communicates your print command to the printer and it can sometimes get stuck.

1. Select Search or Cortana on the bottom left side of your desktop. Enter services.msc and select Services.

Scroll down and select Print Spooler.

To the left, select Stop. Alternatively, right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.

You should see a dialog box confirming the stopping of the service.

Now, select Restart the service. Alternatively, right-click Print Spooler, then select Restart.

You can also right-click the Print Spooler then select Properties to find additional stop and restart controls.

You should see a dialog box about restarting the Print Spooler service.