Each printer that has been added to the printer list has a Print Queue. A Print Queue is a temporary storage location that is used when you print to a printer. When you print to a printer, the information is sent to the Print Queue, where it waits until the printer is ready before sending the information to the printer.
If you send multiple files to the printer or if multiple users print to the printer at the same time, the print files wait in the Print Queue until the printer is finished processing the last job and then releases the next file in the queue for printing.
1. If the Print & Fax preference pane isn’t open, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu and press the Print & Fax button to display the Print & Fax preference pane.
2. Select a printer in the Printers list and press the Open Print Queue button in the main area of the Print & Fax preference pane. The Print Queue for the selected printer is displayed.
3. Confirm that the printer is working by printing a test page. From the Printer menu,choose Print Test Page.
Selecting Print Test Page with the Print Queue
4. A print file is added to the Print Queue and the status of the current page is displayed. After printing a test page, the file is added to the Print Queue and the status is displayed.
Managing the Print Queue
The Print Queue allows you to manage jobs that are sent to the printer for maximum efficiency.
1. Press the Pause Printer button in the toolbar of the Print Queue window. Users can still print to the printer; however, they will wait in the Print Queue because it is paused.
2. Launch the Safari Web browser and go to www.apple.com.
3. Choose File > Print.
4. Make sure that the printer of the Print Queue that you paused in step 1. above is selected, and click the Print button. You see a window indicating that the printer has been paused; click the Add to Queue button.
5. Go to www.digitalclassroombooks.com and repeat steps 2. and 3. above.
6. Go to www.agitraining.com and repeat steps 2. and 3. above.
7. Quit Safari.
8. In the Print Queue window, you can see that there are three jobs on hold in the queue to be printed and they are ordered from top to bottom in the list. Select the Apple print job and press the On Hold button in the toolbar. The status of the job to the left of the job name now indicates that the job is on hold.
9. You’ve decided that you no longer need to print the AGI training web site, the last one in the list. Select that job, and press the Delete button in the toolbar to remove it from the queue.
The Print Queue allows you to hold and delete jobs for better control of what is printed on the printer. If you prefer not to print any jobs on your printer, do not perform steps 10. and 11. below. Instead, simply select each print job in the Print Queue and click the Delete button in the toolbar.
10. Press the Resume Printer button in the toolbar to put the printer online. Printing begins. Because the Apple print job was put on hold, the Digital Classroom Books job begins printing.
11. To resume printing of the Apple job, select the job in the Print Queue and press the Resume button in the toolbar. The Apple job will begin printing after the Digital Classroom job is finished.
12. If you decide at any time that you prefer not to print a job that is sent to the printer, simply select each job in the Print Queue window and press Delete in the toolbar.
Conserving Ink
Modern inkjet printers operate by applying very small droplets of ink to a substrate (i.e. paper, mylar, CD/DVD) during the printing process. In order to replicate the intended color, the printer will mix varying amounts of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and sometimes additional colors such as light cyan and light magenta ink to achieve that intended color.
Believe it or not, even when you print a document that is black only, many modern inkjet printers will reproduce that black color using combinations of all inks in the printer. This wastes valuable and often expensive ink that could be used for printing color documents on your printer. Many users have experienced the need to replace their color ink cartridges when all they ever print is black only documents.
Most print drivers will have an option available that allows you to print using only black ink when desired. This setting usually is found under the color setting of the Print dialog and will be listed as black only or grayscale. Choosing this option will usually tell the printer to use only black ink instead of a combination of all inks in the printer saving those color inks for when you actually need them.
Printing to a PDF file
In addition to printing jobs to a physical printer, you can also print jobs to a PDF file. PDF stands for Portable Document Format and is probably the most widely used format for distributing files electronically. Snow Leopard operating system gives you this capability right out of the box and allows you to print virtually any file to a PDF file. A PDF file is useful if you want to send someone a document that is currently in a format that the other person may not be able to read.
For instance, let’s say you have a Microsoft Word file but someone who you want to send the file to doesn’t own Microsoft Word and therefore cannot open it. Printing the Word file to a PDF file allows them to read the file. If they are using a Mac, they can open the file using the included Preview application. Otherwise, they can download the free Adobe Reader for any platform (Mac, Windows, Linux, and so on), which provides the ability to read the PDF file.
A PDF file can also be useful if you want to look at the contents of a web site when you’re traveling or don’t have an Internet connection. Simply make a PDF of the web site, and you can look at it anytime and anywhere. In this exercise, you’ll make a PDF file of the Digital Classroom Books web site for later viewing.
1. Open Safari and go to www.digitalclassroombooks.com.
2. Choose File > Print to open the print dialog.
3. Press the PDF button in the lower-left corner of the print dialog. Several options are listed in this menu that allow you to perform specific tasks with the PDF document. Choose Save as PDF. The Save window appears.
4. Click the blue triangle next to the Save As field to expand the window.
5. In Save As text field, type DCBooks and click Desktop in the Sidebar to indicate where the PDF file will be saved.
Printer pools
If you work in an environment where there are several printers on which to print your documents, you may want to consider printer pools. Printer pools allow you to group several printers together so that when you send a document to the pool, the first available printer is used to print your document. Let’s say that a coworker or household member just sent a 30- page document to the printer.
That printer will be tied up for quite a long time; however, you may not be aware that the printer is in use. So if you send your job to the same printer, you’ll have to wait until the 30-page document is finished printing before your document prints. With printer pools, you group several printers together so that your job is sent to the printer that currently is not busy, thereby printing your job sooner with no hassles. In this exercise, you’ll add the same printer that you added earlier in this article to gain an understanding of how printer pools work. If you have two printers at your disposal, you can create a printer pool usingthose printers.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Webworldarticles.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
This article was sent to us by:
Kyle Ferguson at
07232010
1. Accessorize Your Apple and Other Things Too
All articles in this directory are property of their respective authors. Additionally, read our Privacy Policy
© 2010 WebWorldarticles.com - All Rights Reserved. Partners: Gunblade Saga