Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, El Capitan Edition

Managing Printouts

After you’ve used the Print command, you can either sit there until the paper emerges from the printer, or you can manage the printouts-in-waiting. That option is attractive primarily to people who do a lot of printing, have connections to a lot of printers, or share printers with many other people.

Start by opening the printer’s window. If you’re already in the process of printing, just click the printer’s Dock icon. If not, open →System Preferences→Printers & Scanners, click the printer’s name, and then click Open Print Queue.

At this point, you see something like Figure 9-4. The printouts that will soon be sliding out of your printer appear in a tidy list.

Here are some of the ways in which you can control these waiting printouts, which Apple collectively calls the print queue:

• Delete them. By clicking an icon, or ⌘-clicking several, and then clicking the Delete toolbar button, you remove items from the list of waiting printouts. Now they won’t print.

• Pause them. By highlighting a printout and then clicking the Hold button, you pause that printout. It doesn’t print until you highlight it again and then click the Resume button. (Other documents continue to print.) This pausing business could be useful when, for example, you need time to check or refill the printer, or when you’re just about to print your letter of resignation as your boss drops by (maybe to offer you ...