How to cancel or pause print jobs on Windows 11

To pause a print job, open Settings > Bluetooth & devices >Printers & scanners, select the printer, click “Additional printer settings,” and click the “Pause” button.
To pause or cancel a print job, open the “Print Queue” app, right-click the job, or open the main menu and choose the “Pause” or “Cancel” option.
You can also use the “Print Management” app to pause or cancel all the print jobs on your computer.

On Windows 11, you can pause or cancel a print job in several ways, and in this guide, I will explain how to complete this task.

If you already have a print job in the queue but have to print something else, you can temporarily pause the printer to run another job and then resume. Also, if you ever click the “Print” button by mistake, instead of wasting ink and paper, you can cancel the job to permanently stop a specific printing.

Regardless of the operation, Windows 11 includes more than one way to pause or cancel a print job using the Settings, Print Queue, and Print Management apps or even PowerShell commands. Starting with the release of Windows 11 24H2, the ability to pause print jobs is available through the Settings app.

In this guide, I will outline the steps to pause or cancel print jobs on Windows 11.

Pause a print job from Settings on Windows 11
Pause a print job from Print Queue on Windows 11
Pause a print job from Print Management on Windows 11
Pause a print job from PowerShell on Windows 11

Pause a print job from Settings on Windows 11

To pause a print job on Windows 11 24H2, use these steps:

Open Settings on Windows 11.
Click on Bluetooth & devices.
Click the Printers & scanners page.
Click on the printer.
Click on Additional printer settings.
Click the Pause button for the “Printing” setting.
(Optional) Click the Resume button to resume printing.

Once you complete the steps, the print job will stop printing, but you can always resume the process.

The Settings app doesn’t include a dedicated option to cancel print jobs on Windows 11. However, you can access other print settings to access the option, as outlined in the other steps.

Pause a print job from Print Queue on Windows 11

To pause or cancel a print job using the Print Queue app, use these steps:

Right-click the Print Queue button from the Taskbar.
Choose the “Open All Active Printers” option.
(Option 1) Right-click the print job and choose the Pause option.
(Optional) Right-click the print job and choose the Resume option.
(Option 2) Open the printer menu (three dots) and choose the Pause all option.
(Optional) Open the printer menu (three dots) and choose the Resume all option.
(Option 3) Right-click the print job and choose the Cancel option.
(Option 4) Open the printer menu (three dots) and choose the Cancel all option.

After you complete the steps, the print job will stop printing temporarily or permanently, depending on your option selection.

Pause a print job from Print Management on Windows 11

To cancel or pause a print job using the Print Management app, use these steps:

Open Control Panel.
Click on System and Security.
Click on Windows Tools.
Open the Print Management app.
Select the All Printers folder under “Custom Filters.”
(Option 1) Right-click the printer and choose the “Pause Printing” option.
(Optional) Right-click the printer and choose the “Resume Printing” option.
(Option 2) Right-click the printer and choose the “Cancel Printing” option.

Once you complete the steps, the printer will temporarily or permanently halt printing a job, depending on your configuration.

Pause a print job from PowerShell on Windows 11

To cancel or pause a print job with PowerShell commands, use these steps:

Open Start
Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and choose the Run as administrator option.
Type the following command to list the available printers and press Enter:
```
Get-Printer
```
Type the following command to view the print jobs from a specific printer and press Enter:
```
Get-PrintJob -PrinterName "PRINTER-NAME"
```
In the command, change “PrinterName” to the actual name of the printer
(Option 1) Type the following command to pause a print job and press Enter:
```
Suspend-PrintJob -PrinterName "PRINTER-NAME" -ID 1
```
In the command, change “PRINTER-NAME” to the actual name of the printer and “1” to the ID of the job to stop.
(Option 2) Type the following command to remove a print job and press Enter:
```
Remove-PrintJob -PrinterName "PRINTER-NAME" -ID 1
```
In the command, change “PRINTER-NAME” to the actual name of the printer and “1” to the ID of the job to stop.

After you complete the steps, the print job will pause or be removed, depending on your command.

Sometimes, you may not be able to pause or cancel the jobs already in the queue. If this is the case, you must reset your computer’s print spooler, which involves stopping the “Print Spooler” service, manually deleting the print queue files, and then restarting the service.