One of the most frustrating things can be sending a document to the printer only to discover it’s somehow got stuck – you dutifully open the Print Queue by clicking Start > Printers and Faxes or Devices and Printers, double-click your printer and choose Printer > Cancel all documents to clear the print queue… Except it doesn’t work. Don’t panic – here’s what you need to do in order to clear that stubborn document and regain control of your printer.

First, simply try switching your printer off for a minute or two to clear its memory. Once done, switch the printer back on and if the print queue is now empty you can try and print again. In most cases, this won’t work, but don’t panic: the next trick is guaranteed to clear the logjam. First, press [Win]+[R] to open the Run dialogue box. Type services.msc and press [Enter] to open the Services console.

Scroll down, locate and right-click the Print Spooler entry and select Stop to temporarily disable the Service. Leave the Services console open while you browse to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete its contents (you may be prompted to gain access privileges to open the PRINTERS folder – just click Continue to get them). Finally, return to the Services console, right-click Print Spooler again, but this time choose Start. Close the Services window and you should find the print queue is now empty again.