A printer queue is a temporary holding area for print jobs that are fed to the printer when it is ready for the next job. This queue is an area of memory set aside on the print server for managing print jobs. When a user decides to print a document, it is immediately sent to the printer queue. If there are no other jobs in the queue, it is processed at once. Printer queues, by default, use the first in, first out (FIFO) rule. First in, first out means that the print job that reaches the queue first receives the highest priority and is output before all other jobs.

The printer queue is also a management tool that can be used to view and manipulate print jobs. The queue can show information about each print job and the progress of the job as it is being fed to the printer. This information includes the user's identification, job start time, and the current status of the print job. Some print job manipulation tasks that can be performed in the printer queue include the following:

• Deleting print jobs – The printer queue can be used to delete single, multiple, or all the print jobs currently being held in the queue. This is useful if an error occurs or multiple copies of a document are accidentally sent to the printer.
• Rearranging print jobs – Even though the printer queue uses FIFO, the order in which jobs are processed can be changed. Higher priority print jobs can be placed closer to the top of the queue while low priority jobs can be taken to the bottom of the list.
• Pause the printer – Sometimes it is beneficial to temporarily pause the entire printing process. Choosing to pause printing puts the queue in a "wait state". During this pause time, changes can be made within the queue (deletions or rearranging) and changes can be made to the printer (changing media type, ink, or toner). "Un-pause" the printer queue to resume processing the print jobs.

It is important that managing the printer queue is restricted to just a few individuals like the network administrator and print server administrator. The network administrator can then determine the priority of users and print jobs. For example, the network administrator may prioritize all print jobs from the president and vice president of the company or from the accounting department. If access to the printer queue is allowed for every user, users could then prioritize their jobs or delete others' jobs.
 

Lab Activity  (PDF, 12 KB)   In this lab, students will open up the printer queue, add jobs to the printer queue, delete a job from the printer queue, rearrange jobs in the printer queue, and purge all jobs held in the printer queue.