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Mac Printer Queue: Where It Is and How to Clear It

On current macOS versions, the mac printer queue lives in Print Center. It opens automatically when you print; otherwise open Finder → Applications → Utilities → Print Center. Select a job to hold, resume or delete it, or select the printer in the sidebar to pause every job. While printing, the Dock icon shows a badge: red with the job count while printing, green with a pause symbol when paused, yellow when the printer needs attention. Older macOS versions open the queue from System Settings → Printers & Scanners.

A Mac keeps one printer queue per printer, just like Windows, but you manage them all from one place. Here's where to find the mac printer queue on your version and how to clear it.

Where is the mac printer queue in current macOS?

Apple's Apple's Print Center guide describes Print Center as the home of the mac printer queue. To open it:

1. Print anything — Print Center opens by itself.
2. Or open Finder → Applications → Utilities and double-click Print Center.
3. Select a printer in the sidebar to see its jobs on the right.

From there you can manage the printer queue on mac without any menus: select a job and use Hold Job, Resume Job or Delete Job. To stop every job for one printer, select the printer and click Pause in the toolbar; Resume starts them again.

Finished jobs leave the list. To check what already printed, choose Window → Completed Jobs.

Where was the mac printer queue on older macOS versions?

Before Print Center, each printer had its own queue window. Open Apple menu → System Settings → Printers & Scanners (called System Preferences on older versions), select your printer and click the queue button — labelled Printer Queue or Open Print Queue, depending on the version.

On any version, clicking the printer's icon in the Dock while it prints opens the same mac printer queue window. The job controls work the same way: select a job, then hold, resume or delete it.

How do you clear printer queue on Mac?

To clear printer queue mac jobs:

1. Open Print Center and select the printer in the sidebar.
2. Select a job.
3. Click Delete Job.
4. Repeat for each job until the list is empty.

Deleting a job removes only the print copy; your document is untouched. If you clear printer queue mac jobs because a printer jammed, fix the printer first, or the next job will fail the same way.

Why won't a Mac print job delete?

A job that keeps coming back to the mac printer queue or refuses to go is usually tied to a printer that's paused, offline or mid-job. Try this order:

1. Select the printer and click Pause.
2. Select the stuck job and click Delete Job.
3. Click Resume.
4. Turn the printer off for 60 seconds, restart the Mac and check again.

If the job still won't leave the printer queue on mac, resetting the printing system is the last resort. On versions that offer it, Control-click the printer list in Printers & Scanners and choose Reset printing system. It removes every printer, so you'll need to add yours again.

What do the Print Center Dock badges mean?

The Dock icon tells you the state of the mac printer queue at a glance. Apple's Apple's Print Center guide lists three badges:

The badge describes the mac printer queue as a whole. Each job's own state shows in Print Center's list, much like the printer queue status column on Windows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated October 29, 2026.