How to Clear Printer Queue in Windows

Last Updated: August 10, 2022 Tested

Clearing the Queue

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Restarting the Print Spooler Service

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Q&A

This wikiHow teaches you how to clear pending documents from your printer’s queue when you’re using Windows 10. If having trouble with documents sitting in the queue without ever printing, you can also try restarting the print spooler.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Clearing the Queue

1
Click the Start
menu. It’s usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
2
Click Settings
.

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3
Click Devices. It’s the second icon at the top of the window.
4
Click Printers & scanners. It’s in the left column.
5
Click the printer. Connected printers appear in the right panel under “Printers & scanners.” Two buttons will appear beneath the printer’s name.
6
Click Open queue. A list of pending print jobs will appear.
7
Right-click a document you want to remove from the queue. A context menu will appear.
8
Click Cancel. This removes the document from the queue.
9
Repeat for other documents you want to cancel.
- To cancel all documents at once, click the Printer menu at the top-left corner of the window, then select Cancel All Documents.
- If the files stay in the queue even after you’ve canceled them, try restarting the computer.
- If clearing the queue does not resolve your print queue issues, see Restarting the Print Spooler Service.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Restarting the Print Spooler Service

1
Open the Windows Search bar. It’s either a magnifying glass or a circle to the right of the Start
button.
2
Type services.msc and press ↵ Enter. This opens the “Services” window.
3
Scroll down and right-click Print Spooler. It’s in the right panel. A context menu will appear.
4
Click Stop. Now that the queue is stopped, you can clear the documents.
5
Go back to the Windows Search bar. Don’t close the Services window, as you’ll need it again in a few moments. Just click the search icon (or the search bar, if it’s permanently in your taskbar).
6
Type %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\ and press ↵ Enter. A folder will appear.
7
Select all files in the folder. To do this, click a blank area inside the folder, then press Ctrl+A.
8
Press the Del key on the keyboard. This clears the print queue, and you can close this folder window.
9
Return to the “Services” window. You can do this by clicking Services in the taskbar, or by pressing Alt+Tab ↹ until you get back to it.
10
Scroll down and right-click Print Spooler again.
11
Click Start. The print queue should now be completely clear.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I clear out 1688 on an inkjet printer?

Lain Yensoon

Community Answer

On the right hand side of your taskbar there should be a printer icon. If you can't see it, it may be hidden behind the arrow; click the arrow to see it. Right click the printer icon and click open printer queue. A new window should open with all current print jobs. Delete the files in queue that you don't want by either right clicking and then selecting delete or left clicking and pressing the delete button on your keyboard.