Printer Says "Paused" and Won't Print: How to Resume It on Windows and Mac

When a printer says Paused, the print queue on your computer has been told to hold jobs, so nothing is sent until someone resumes it. On Windows 11, open Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, choose the printer, open the print queue and resume it, or untick Printer › Pause Printing. On a Mac, open the printer's queue and click Resume. Then find out what paused it.

Quick fixes first

1. Open the print queue and resume the printer: Resume on a Mac, untick Pause Printing on Windows.
2. Check the printer's own screen or lights for paper, ink, jam or open-door messages, and clear them.
3. Look for a pop-up from the printer software hidden behind other windows, and answer it.
4. Cancel old jobs in the queue and send one test page.
5. If Paused comes back, restart the computer and the printer, then read the section on why it keeps pausing.

How to resume a paused printer in Windows 11

From Settings

1. Open Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners and click your printer. The status under its name says Paused.
2. Click Open print queue.
3. Choose the resume option in the queue window. Depending on your Windows 11 version, it appears at the top of the window or in the ... (See more) menu.

If you can't find a resume option there, use the classic queue window below, which has the switch in a fixed place.

From the classic queue window

1. Press Windows key + R, type control printers and press Enter. On most Windows 11 PCs this still opens the older printer list.
2. Right-click your printer and choose See what's printing.
3. Open the Printer menu. If Pause Printing has a check mark, click it to remove it. While you are there, make sure Use Printer Offline is not ticked either.
4. If individual documents show Paused, select them and choose Document › Resume.

Pause Printing holds the whole printer; pausing a document holds just that job. Both show up as Paused in different places, so check both. If jobs still won't move after resuming, a stuck job may be blocking the queue, and clear a stuck print queue shows how to remove it.

What does "Paused - user intervention required" mean?

This combined status means two things at once: the queue is paused, and the printer has reported a condition that needs a person. The usual triggers are out of paper, a jam, an open door, a missing or empty cartridge, a paper size that doesn't match the tray, or a prompt to load paper in the manual feed slot.

1. Go to the printer and fix whatever its panel shows. Resuming before the condition is cleared just pauses it again.
2. Resume the queue using the steps above.
3. If the panel is clear and the status stays, restart the Print Spooler: press Windows key + R, type services.msc, right-click Print Spooler and choose Restart. Then cancel old jobs.
4. If the printer insists it is out of paper when the tray is full, see printer says out of paper when it isn't. If it rejects a new cartridge, see ink or toner not recognized.

Why does my printer keep pausing by itself?

Windows rarely pauses a printer on its own. When Paused keeps coming back, something is setting it, and it is usually one of these:

• A printer error. Paper out, a jam or an open cover stops the printer, and some drivers pass that to Windows as Paused or Error until you fix it and resume. A jam that keeps coming back needs a proper look; printer paper jam covers the hidden spots.
• Brand status monitors. HP, Epson, Canon and Brother drivers can install a status tool that watches ink and cartridge status. When it raises a warning, such as low ink or a non-original cartridge, the job may wait until you click Continue, OK or Cancel, and that dialog is easy to miss behind other windows.
• An empty cartridge. Many cartridge inkjets stop when any one color runs out, even for black-only pages. If the printer says it is out of ink when you can see ink, read printer says out of ink but it isn't.
• Print release software. Offices using hold-and-release tools such as PaperCut keep jobs waiting until you release them at the printer or in the app.
• Another person or program. On a shared PC, someone may pause the queue on purpose, and some remote management tools can do the same.
• A duplicate printer entry. You resumed one copy of the printer, but your apps print to another one, such as "Copy 1". Remove the extra entries so only one queue remains.

How do I unpause a printer on a Mac?

1. Click the printer icon in the Dock while a job is waiting, or open System Settings › Printers & Scanners, select the printer and click Printer Queue.
2. Click Resume in the toolbar to restart the whole queue. If one job is on hold, select it and click the Resume Job button (the curved arrow) next to it.
3. Read the message above the job list. macOS can pause a queue after a job fails, for example when it couldn't connect to the printer, and it shows the reason there.

If the Mac pauses the queue again after every job, the job is failing rather than being paused on purpose. The most common causes:

• The printer's IP address changed. Remove the printer and add it again with Add Printer, Scanner or Fax, then reserve the address in your router.
• A driver mismatch. When you add it again, choose AirPrint in the Use menu if your printer supports it.
• A blocked brand app. On macOS Sequoia and Tahoe, apps need permission to reach devices on your network. Check System Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network.

As a last resort, Control-click in the printer list and choose Reset printing system, then add your printers again. This removes every printer and queue on the Mac, so note them first.

HP, Epson, Canon and Brother apps: what their status means

Brand apps show what the printer itself reports, which helps because Windows and macOS often hide the real reason. In most cases they can't lift a pause set in the computer's queue, so if the app says Ready while Windows says Paused, resume it in Windows.

When the app shows an error, fix it at the printer first, then resume the queue on the computer. Jobs sent while the printer was stopped may need sending again.

Chromebook: print job stopped or waiting

ChromeOS doesn't give you a Pause Printing switch like Windows does. When a Chromebook job sits waiting, the printer is usually reporting a problem or can't be reached.

1. Open the Print jobs app from the launcher, or click the printing notification, to see the job status and cancel stuck jobs.
2. Fix whatever the printer's panel shows, such as paper, ink or a jam.
3. If the job fails with Printer unavailable, remove the saved printer and add it again. Our print from a Chromebook guide has the steps, including adding a printer by IP address.

Where does Paused show up, and who set it?

How to stop it pausing again

• Keep one queue per printer. Remove duplicates in Printers & scanners so every app prints to the entry you resumed.
• Reserve the printer's IP address in your router so jobs don't fail when the address changes.
• Deal with supply warnings early. Keep a spare cartridge or bottle, and keep the tray loaded with the paper size your documents use, usually Letter.
• Answer status monitor pop-ups rather than leaving them behind other windows. Some drivers let you adjust notifications in Printing preferences under a Maintenance or Utility tab; the options vary by brand.
• Update the driver package from the manufacturer, or try the built-in driverless option (Windows' IPP driver or AirPrint on a Mac) if the vendor's status tool keeps getting in the way.

If the printer isn't paused but still won't print, the cause is elsewhere: see printer not printing, or printer not responding if an app freezes when you click Print.

If you would rather have someone find what keeps pausing it, our independent remote printer support plan covers every printer in your home or office, on any brand and any device, over a screen share you can end at any time.