Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Controlling Printouts

Between the moment when you click OK in the Print dialog box and the arrival of the first page in the printer’s tray, there’s a delay. When printing a complex document with lots of graphics, the delay can be considerable.

Fortunately, the waiting doesn’t necessarily make you less productive, since you can return to work on your PC, or even quit the application and go watch TV. An invisible program called the print spooler supervises this background printing process. The spooler collects the document that’s being sent to the printer, along with all the codes the printer expects to receive, and then sends this information, little by little, to the printer.

Note

The spooler program creates huge temporary printer files, so a hard drive that’s nearly full can wreak havoc with background printing.

To see the list of documents waiting to be printed—the ones that have been stored by the spooler—open the Printers and Faxes window, and then double-click your printer’s icon to open its window.

Tip

While the printer is printing, a printer icon appears in the notification area. As a shortcut to opening the printer’s window, just double-click that icon.

Figure 13-8. The first document, called “Microsoft Word—Voice phones.doc,” has begun printing; the second one, you’ve put on hold. Several other documents are waiting. By right-clicking documents in this list, you can pause or cancel ...