Printers, and why they are the worst
A proper order of checks for a printer that will not print — and a fair idea of why it went wrong in the first place.
Printers are, by common agreement, the least reliable thing most households own. That is not because you are doing something wrong. It is because a printer is a small computer, sitting on your network, with moving parts, consumables that run out, and software written to a very tight budget.
The good news is that the causes are few and always the same. Six things account for nearly every printer that will not print.
On a computer, Ctrl+P opens the print window from almost any program — Cmd+P on a Mac. The name at the top of that window is the printer the job is actually going to, and it deserves a glance every single time.
Key points
- Six causes cover nearly every printer that will not print
- Look at the printer before you touch the computer
- Pressing Print again adds jobs to a queue that is already stuck
- Restart last, because it clears the evidence along with the fault
What to remember
- Look before you press. Pressing Print again only adds another job to a queue that is already stuck.
- Eyes on the printer, then eyes on the screen, then the restart.
- When nothing happens, look before you press again. The queue is patient and it forgets nothing.
Try this
Open the print queue on your own computer — on Windows it is under Printers and scanners, on a Mac under Printers in System Settings. Seeing what is sitting in there, once, while nothing is wrong, is worth a great deal later.
Practice: Printers, and why they are the worst. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.