Uncommanded Printer Operation

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Uncommanded Printer Operation

Wayne Hinton 5

About 10 minutes ago I posted a question for Suzanne and saw it briefly but when I ent back to check a few minutes later it was gone although AI answered. Should I repostt?

Stefan Blom 337.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-17T01:03:49.4233333+00:00

In which thread did you post? Was it the one at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5620896/word-2019-will-not-save-changes-to-document ?
Wayne Hinton 5 Reputation points

2025-11-17T01:24:41.2766667+00:00

That was my previous post which Suzanne fixed for me. This was a new problem which I posted on the same site. By the way, when I posted it I saw that it was in the same long lateral format with no right boundary. I'd like to fix this for future posts but don't know how to access any buttons as there aren't any in the dialog box. I tried to follow to AI advice about the Queue and shutting off the auto spooler, but I couldn't even find the buttons/files/links to start the procedure. I could bypass them and get to the printer folder but I was told to delete all the files to clear the jam. But If I do that I think I will send up deleting the document I am currently working on. I have several others that I have worked on in the past so I don't want to delete any of them either. There is one document with a Kb in five figures so I figure I could delete that one but not sure of any of the others. Basically I'm trying to find out how and where to locate the 5 documents the printer says that I have waiting so I can delete them (they were started in error) as I think this is causing the jam.
Suzanne S Barnhill 277K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-17T02:41:54.97+00:00

Deleting documents from the printer queue does not delete them from the folder where they are saved; it just clears the printer queue.

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Stefan Blom 337.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-17T01:03:49.4233333+00:00

In which thread did you post? Was it the one at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5620896/word-2019-will-not-save-changes-to-document ?
Wayne Hinton 5 Reputation points

2025-11-17T01:24:41.2766667+00:00

That was my previous post which Suzanne fixed for me. This was a new problem which I posted on the same site. By the way, when I posted it I saw that it was in the same long lateral format with no right boundary. I'd like to fix this for future posts but don't know how to access any buttons as there aren't any in the dialog box. I tried to follow to AI advice about the Queue and shutting off the auto spooler, but I couldn't even find the buttons/files/links to start the procedure. I could bypass them and get to the printer folder but I was told to delete all the files to clear the jam. But If I do that I think I will send up deleting the document I am currently working on. I have several others that I have worked on in the past so I don't want to delete any of them either. There is one document with a Kb in five figures so I figure I could delete that one but not sure of any of the others. Basically I'm trying to find out how and where to locate the 5 documents the printer says that I have waiting so I can delete them (they were started in error) as I think this is causing the jam.
Suzanne S Barnhill 277K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-17T02:41:54.97+00:00

Deleting documents from the printer queue does not delete them from the folder where they are saved; it just clears the printer queue.

Answer 1

I would like to report success. I did some on line searching yesterday and found a way to follow the AI's original suggestion regarding the Print Spooler. While on my desk top computer I did some on line searching and found a link to some instructions on how to access the Print Spooler. I did a test and tried to do a single page printout using the same printer that was giving me the problems so I'd have a hard copy and found that the command was executed normally. When I tried to print the same single page using my laptop, the printer reverted to trying to print out my whole original document. which I quickly cancelled. The instructions said to right click Start, click Run from the dialog box, and then type in services.msc which I did. This brought up another box where I was able to scroll down to Print Spooler and right click on that where I could click Stop from the drop down box. I was then able to proceed to navigate via C: Windows\System32\Spool\Printers to the folder containing the files which I deleted in its entirety. I then restarted the Print Spooler and tried a test page which worked normally. I would like to thank everyone who helped with this vexing problem. I'm not very tech savvy so this was a good learning experience, and I will kep these instructions handy, just in case.

Answer 2

It seems that your question may have been temporarily unavailable or removed for some reason. If you feel that your question is still relevant and you would like to receive assistance, it would be appropriate to repost it. This way, you can ensure that it reaches the intended audience and you can get the help you need.

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Troubleshooting scenarios for printing

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Uncommanded Printer Operation

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