XP/2K/2003: Retain a copy of documents in Windows printing

Home -> Windows

From the computer of: qmchenry (339 recipes)
Created: Sep 01, 2004

Add to:

Windows allows users to maintain an archive of all documents printed and to reprint any of those documents on demand. This will consume disk space but will not otherwise impact system performance.

To turn on document archiving, open a printer's properties (for example, click Start -> Printers and Faxes, right click on the specific printer and select properties).

Within the printer's properties, click on the Advanced tab and check the Keep printed documents option. Click OK to save the properties.

Documents will stay in the printer queue until you delete them. To reprint a document, open the printer from the Printers and Faxes window (you can make a shortcut to a printer on the desktop by dragging it from this window to the desktop. Within the printer window, the print queue will be visible. Select the desired document in the queue and click Document -> Restart to print.

To delete the contents of the print queue, open the System32/Printers/Spool directory in your Windows home directory (\winnt or \windows), and delete the files you no longer want.