Everyday IT fixes
Fix a printer that's showing as offline
Work through the five checks that resolve most 'printer offline' problems before you raise a ticket.
Last reviewed 20 August 2026
- 1Check the printer itself — powered on, no paper jam, no error on its display, and the network cable or Wi-Fi symbol is showing.
- 2Print the printer's own network/configuration page from its front panel. If that fails, it's the printer, not your PC.
- 3On your PC open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, choose the printer and untick 'Use printer offline' if it's set.
- 4Clear the queue: open the print queue, cancel every stuck job, then try one short document.
- 5Restart the print spooler — press Windows + R, type services.msc, find 'Print Spooler', right-click and choose Restart.
Still nothing? Restart the printer and the PC in that order and try once more. If it's a shared office printer and nobody can print, say so on the ticket — that points at the printer or the network rather than a single machine.
Tell us the printer's model and its location or name on the network. It saves us a round-trip of questions.
Still stuck?
Log it with the helpdesk and a real engineer will pick it up — or book a call if you'd rather talk it through.