5 Ways To Clear Print Queue In Windows 10

When you print a document or picture, Windows places the document/picture in a queue, and it’s called the print queue. In short, a print queue is nothing but a list of document(s) waiting to print.

Windows 10 automatically clears the print queue when the printer completes all pending jobs.

At times, you might need to manually clear the print queue to resolve a stuck print job. Clearing a print queue is relatively easy in Windows 10. Use one of the given below methods to clear the print queue in Windows 10.

Method 1 of 5

The easiest way to clear the print queue in Windows 10

Step 1: Look for the printer icon in the system tray area of the taskbar and then double-click on it to view pending printer jobs.

Step 2: Click the Printer menu and then click Clear All Documents to clear the print queue.

Method 2 of 5

Clear print queue via Devices & Printers

Step 1: Type Devices and Printers in the Start menu or taskbar search field and then press Enter key to open Devices and Printers window.

Step 2: Right-click on your printer’s icon, click See what’s printing option to view all print jobs that are currently in the queue.

Step 3: Right-click on a print queue, and then click Cancel option to clear the particular print job from the queue.

To clear all print jobs from the queue, click the Printer menu and then click Cancel All Documents option.

Method 3 of 5

Clear the print queue via the Settings app

Step 1: Open the Settings app and then navigate to Devices > Printers & scanners.

Step 2: Click on your printer to see the Open queue button. Click on the Open queue button to view all print queue jobs.

Step 3: Right-click on a print job and then click Cancel to clear it from the print queue. To clear all documents from the print queue at once, click the Printer menu and then click Cancel All Documents option.

Method 4 of 5

Manually clear the print queue in Windows 10

Use this method if the print job got stuck in the queue, and you are unable to clear the queue by following the methods mentioned above.

Step 1: In the Start menu or taskbar search box, type services.msc and then press Enter key to open Services window.

Step 2: Here, look for Print Spooler service. Right-click on Print Spooler service and then click Stop option. Minimize the Services window.

Step 3: Open File Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

Where “C” is the driver letter of Windows 10 install drive. If you see a dialog with “You don’t currently have permission to access this folder” message, click the continue button to open up the PRINTERS folder. If you are not the admin, you might need to enter the password.

Step 4: Under the PRINTERS directory, you will see many files. Select all files and press the delete key to delete all files. This will clear the print queue. Click the Yes button if you see the confirmation dialog.

Step 5: Maximize the Services window, right-click on Print Spooler service, and click Start to start the service.

Method 5 of 5

Use third-party tools to clear the ­print queue

Plenty of free tools out there to help you clear the print queue in Windows 10. Print Queue Cleaner, Print Service Manager, and PrintFlush are two free tools that you can use to clear the print queue in Windows 10.

And if you have issues with the printer, use the official printer troubleshooter in Windows 10.