Most office printer problems fall into a handful of categories: the printer shows as offline, print jobs are stuck in the queue, the driver is missing or corrupted, or the network connection dropped. Before you call for help, there is a good chance one of the fixes below will get you printing again in a few minutes.
Problem 1: Printer Shows as "Offline"
This is the most common printer complaint in any office. The printer is powered on and looks fine, but Windows insists it is offline.
Start with the physical basics. Walk over to the printer and confirm it is powered on. Check for any error lights or messages on the printer's display panel. Make sure it has paper in the tray and that no paper jam indicators are lit.
Next, check the network connection. If the printer is connected via Ethernet, verify the cable is plugged in and the link light on the port is active. If it is a Wi-Fi printer, check that it is connected to the correct wireless network. You can usually print a network configuration page from the printer's built-in menu, which will show its current IP address and connection status. Try typing that IP address into a web browser on your computer. If the printer's web interface loads, the printer is reachable on the network and the problem is on the Windows side.
On your computer, go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners and select the printer that shows as offline. Click Open print queue. In the print queue window, click the Printer menu at the top and look for an option labeled "Use Printer Offline." If it is checked, uncheck it. This is a setting that Windows sometimes enables on its own, and unchecking it often resolves the issue immediately.
If the printer still shows as offline after unchecking that option, restart the Print Spooler service (covered in Problem 2 below). This clears out the Windows print system and forces it to re-detect available printers.
Problem 2: Print Jobs Stuck in the Queue
When print jobs pile up in the queue and refuse to print or cancel, the Print Spooler service is usually the culprit. The spooler is the Windows service responsible for managing all print jobs, and it can get jammed.
First, try clearing the queue manually. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the affected printer, and click Open print queue. In the queue window, click the Printer menu and select Cancel All Documents. Confirm the prompt. Wait 30 seconds and try printing again.
If the jobs refuse to cancel, or if new jobs immediately get stuck, you need to restart the Print Spooler service. Click the Start button and search for "Services." Open the Services application. Scroll down to Print Spooler, right-click it, and select Restart. After the service restarts, try printing again.
If even restarting the spooler does not clear the jam, there is a more thorough fix. Open Services, right-click Print Spooler, and select Stop. Then open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS. Delete all files in this folder (these are the stuck print job files). Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler, and select Start. The queue should now be empty and the printer should accept new jobs.
Problem 3: Printer Not Found or Not Installed
If a printer does not appear in your list of available printers, you need to add it manually.
Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners and click Add device. Windows will scan for available printers. If the printer appears in the list, click it and follow the prompts to install it.
If the printer does not appear, click "The printer that I want isn't listed" (or "Add manually" on some Windows 11 versions). For network printers, the most reliable option is to add it by IP address. Select "Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname," click Next, and enter the printer's IP address.
To find the printer's IP address, check the printer's display panel (most modern printers can show their IP in a network status screen), print a network configuration page from the printer's built-in menu, or check your router's DHCP client list to see what IP was assigned.
If Windows does not have the correct driver built in, you will need to download it from the manufacturer's website (HP, Brother, Canon, etc.). Go to the manufacturer's support page, search for your exact printer model, download the driver for your version of Windows, and run the installer. After the driver is installed, try adding the printer again.
For businesses that manage multiple computers, Microsoft Intune can deploy printer configurations to all enrolled devices from a central console. This eliminates the need to manually install printers on each workstation. You configure the printer connection once in Intune, and it pushes to every managed device automatically.
Problem 4: Prints Are Garbled, Faded, or Misaligned
If the printer is working but the output looks wrong, the issue is usually the toner/ink or the driver.
Start by running the printer's built-in cleaning and alignment functions. These are usually accessible from the printer's own control panel or touch screen. Look for a Maintenance or Tools menu on the printer itself.
Check toner or ink levels. For laser printers, if the toner is low, try removing the toner cartridge, gently rocking it side to side a few times to redistribute the remaining toner, and reinserting it. This can extend the life of a cartridge by a few hundred pages.
Try printing a test page from Windows to isolate whether the problem is with a specific application or with the printer itself. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the printer, and click Print test page. If the test page looks fine, the issue is likely in the application you were printing from (check print settings, margins, or page scaling). If the test page is also garbled or distorted, the issue is with the driver or the printer hardware.
To fix a driver issue, uninstall the printer from Settings > Printers & scanners (select it and click Remove), then reinstall it using the steps in Problem 3. Download a fresh driver from the manufacturer's website to make sure you have the latest version.
Problem 5: Printing Is Extremely Slow
Slow printing usually comes down to print quality settings or the network connection.
First, check the print quality setting. When you print a document, look at the print dialog for a quality or resolution option. If it is set to "Best" or "High Quality," change it to "Normal" or "Draft" for everyday documents. High-quality mode sends much more data to the printer and takes significantly longer, especially for documents with images.
For network printers, the connection type matters. Wi-Fi printers are often noticeably slower than Ethernet-connected printers, especially if the Wi-Fi signal is weak or the network is congested. If slow printing is a recurring problem, consider connecting the printer via Ethernet cable instead.
Large documents with many images take longer regardless of settings. For draft copies, try printing in black and white to speed things up.
If one specific computer is slow but other computers print to the same printer at normal speed, the issue is likely the print driver on that computer. Uninstall and reinstall the printer driver on the slow machine.
Problem 6: Printer Works for Some Users but Not Others
When the printer works for some people in the office but not others, the issue is usually configuration or permissions.
First, verify that the printer is actually installed on the affected user's computer. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners on their machine and check if the printer appears in the list. If it does not, install it using the steps in Problem 3.
Next, check that the user is sending print jobs to the correct printer. They may have a different default printer selected. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners and look at which printer is set as the default.
If you are using a print server or a shared printer hosted on another computer, verify that the affected user has permission to access the shared printer. On the computer hosting the shared printer, right-click the printer, select Printer properties > Security tab, and confirm the user or their security group has the Print permission.
Finally, check that the affected user's driver version matches what other working users have. Mismatched driver versions between the print server and the client can cause silent failures.
When to Call for Help
Some printer problems go beyond basic troubleshooting:
- Error codes on the printer's display that you cannot resolve after checking the manufacturer's documentation or support website.
- Hardware issues like paper jams that will not clear, grinding or clicking sounds, or persistent error lights after following all troubleshooting steps.
- Driver issues that persist after uninstalling and reinstalling.
- Network printers that consistently drop off the network. This usually indicates a deeper network infrastructure issue (DHCP lease problems, Wi-Fi coverage gaps, or network switch problems) that requires someone to look at the network, not just the printer.
Need Help?
Printer problems are frustrating, but most have simple fixes once you know where to look. If you have worked through these steps and the issue persists, or if you are dealing with recurring printer problems across your office, get in touch with Athencia. We can diagnose the issue remotely and get your team printing again.
