How to cancel print jobs in Windows 2000, XP and Vista
RELATES TO:
- The printer does not print.
- The printer does not print and Status Monitor displays an error.
- The printer prints incorrect or garbled characters.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Explanation
Solution
- Open the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder.
- Open the print queue by double-clicking on the icon that represents your printer.
- Click on the Printer menu and then click Cancel All Documents.
- Confirm that you want to cancel the documents.
- Close the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder and any other open application windows.
- Restart the computer to refresh the print spooler and correctly clear the print queue.
- Once restarted, open the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder again.
- Check that the printer status is Ready and that no documents are waiting to print.
EXPLANATION:
Print jobs can be held in the print queue if it is corrupted during the spooling process, this will prevent you from printing. This can also be the result of a communication-related issue or be caused by the printer not being ready to print.
This article explains how to cancel documents in the print queue.
SOLUTION:
- Open the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder.
- Click on Start > Settings > Printers, or
- Click Start > Control Panel. Open Printers, or Printers and Faxes, or Printers and Other Hardware.
For help with this step see Related Article How to open the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder in Windows.
- Open the print queue by double-clicking on the icon that represents your printer.
Note:If there is more than one icon present for your printer, such as Epson Stylus DX4400 Series and Epson Stylus DX4400 Series (Copy 1), see Related Article Cannot Print: Multiple copies of the driver are listed in the Printers folder for help and return to this article if necessary.
- If there are no documents waiting to print then the queue will be empty.
- If there are documents (print jobs) listed, we recommend cancelling them:
Note:Your system may require a patch from Epson if documents are listed with the name <<<*** EPSON EBAPI Dummy Document Data ***>>>. For help see Related Article Printing fails and "EPSON EBAPI Dummy Document Data" appears in the document queue. What can I do?.

- Click on the Printer menu and then click Cancel All Documents.
- Click Yes when prompted "Are you sure you want to cancel all documents for 'Epson Stylus xxxx'?". Documents may still be listed in the print queue, but the print queue will be cleared by following the next steps.
- Close the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder and any other open application windows.
- Restart the computer to refresh the print spooler and clear the print queue.
- Once restarted, open Printers or Printers and Faxes again.
- Check that the printer status is Ready and that no documents are waiting to print. The status and number of documents held in the print queue are normally indicated under or next to the printer icon.
Example:
- If the printer is Ready, try printing again (if required).
- If a different status is listed below the printer icon (such as Deleting, Paused, or Offline), see Related Article How to check the driver and print queue status in Windows 2000, XP and Vista for further advice.
- If the printer is Ready, try printing again (if required).

