What is a Print Spooler?

The print spooler is a small program/software that manages the order of documents to proceed to the print queue. It manages all print jobs that are submitted to the computer printer. In this article we are going to learn what is Print spooler, How does Print Spooler work, the Need of a Print Spooler, some common problems related to Print Spooler, Error handling in Print Spooler, and how to restart the Print Spooler if we are facing issues.

What is a Print Spooler?

The Print Spooler is software built into the Windows operating system that temporarily stores print jobs in the computer’s memory until the printer is ready to print them. It also allows a user to delete a print job when it is being done. The primary function of the Print Spooler is to organize and control the print jobs. The print spooler allows for more efficient use of the printer by managing the order in which those jobs are sent to the printer. Print Spooler allows us to send a document to the printer while another one is printing.

Working on Print Spooler

The print spooler takes incoming printing requests and puts them into an area called a spool. This area acts as a queue and stores all tasks that require printing. When it is time to start executing each task, they are taken from the queue one by one and sent off to the printer. The entire process is automatic, we don’t have to manually sit and wait until the print task is completed in order for it to be printed out.

Working of Print Spooler

Need of Print Spooler

The printer alone is not able to handle all the printing jobs. This is because the printer is too slow and lacks sufficient memory. We can understand this by taking an example, suppose more than 10 computers are connected from one printer and more than two people request printing at the same time, The print spooler service will schedule the printing job by putting them into a queue and decides the order of printing the documents, which document will be printed first. One who click print first will get priority.

Some Common Problems Related to Print Spoolers

Sometimes we face issues during printing, involved with the Spooler with printers. Some common problems related with Print Spooler are mentioned below :

• Print Spooler Service not Running.
• Print Jobs stuck in the queue.
• Printer Driver issues.
• Corrupted Print Spooler files.
• Dependency Service not Running.
• Incorrect Printer Port.
• Outdated Operating System or Software Updates.

Stuck in Print Queue

When printer stops printing job in the middle them it is called the print job stuck in the print queue. When this happens then cancel and delete button might do not respond to input. We can clear this problem by restarting the print spooler. First we have to stop the working of print spooler and delete the current printing job and then start the print spooler again. This way we can make print spooler function normal again.

Steps to Clear Print Queue

After deleting all files in printing job we can clear Print Queue. We can clear our printer queue in windows operating system by following steps :

• In the search box next to start on the taskbar.
• search for Control Panel.
• Click on Control Panel and look for Administrative Tools.
• Double click on the service icon.
• Scroll down and select the print spooler service.
• Click on stop.
• Type C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\PRINTERS into the address bar of your internet browser.
• Delete all the files in this folder.

Now, our Print Queue is cleared.

Error Handling in Print Spooler

The print spooler handles all the printing tasks and errors. Sometimes we face issues while printing such as paper jam or low ink levels, the print spooler manage all the errors, pause the printing job and notify us or administrator about the problem.

How to Restart the Print Spooler Service?

Sometimes we face difficulty in sending a job to printer, the problem may be the Print Spooler service. We can restart the Print Spooler by following steps given below if Print Spooler service stops working :

• Open the Windows Task Manager.
• Click the service tab in the task manager window.
• Click the description column header to sort the list of services by description.
• Scroll down and find the print spooler service in the description column. The service is named Spooler in the name column.
• Right-click the print spooler service and select restart in the pop-up menu.
• We can again start the printing job in printer, after print spooler service is restarted.

FAQs on Print Spooler

Q.1: Why sometimes we face difficulty in sending a print job to a printer?

Answer:

If there is problem with print spooler service in computer, then we face difficulty in printing. This can be solved by restarting the print spooler service from setting of computer.

Q.2: Do we need to download Print Spooler Service?

Answer:

No, it is a inbuilt service if we are using a Windows operating system.

Q.3: What is Spoolsv.exe?

Answer:

This is the executable file that represents the print spooler service in windows.

Q.4: Why it is necessary to have Print Spooler Service?

Answer:

Printer alone is not able to handle all the printing jobs. This is because printer is too slow and lacks sufficient memory. That’s why we need print spooler Service to handle all the printing jobs, printing queue and managing them in order.