What is Printer Pooling? A Complete Guide to Boost Printing Efficiency
Introduction to Printer Pooling
Ever heard of printer pooling? And if you’re doing lots of printing tasks, it may be just what you need. Printer pooling allows multiple printers to work together as a “pool” under one print queue. What this really means is that when you send a document to print, it can be sent to any printer within the pool, and this makes life a lot easier for busy offices or homes that have a number of printers.
How Printer Pooling Works
So, what exactly happens when you enable printer pooling? Here’s a simple breakdown. When printer pooling is activated, your computer manages all connected printers as a single unit. Your document doesn’t have to wait for one printer to become free – it can go to any printer that’s available. A clever trick, what this is actually about is the spooling, or at least the part of the spooling where your document is temporarily sitting in the “print queue” until a printer is available who can print it.
Benefits of Enabling Printer Pooling
Why go through the trouble of setting up printer pooling? Well, here are some compelling reasons:
1. Faster Printing
In fact, a number of printers can be in a pool where you don’t have to wait on a single printer to finish your job; you just send your job to the next available device.
2. Cost-Efficiency
In an office setting, pooling let’s you save resources by maximizing the output of each printer.
3. Reduced Downtime
Others in the pool can take up if one printer is offline and printing will continue without pause.
Understanding the “Enable Printer Pooling” Setting
When you enable printer pooling, you’re telling your computer to treat all assigned printers as a unified resource. Well, think of this as setting a ‘team’ of printers! Here’s how to enable it:
Steps to Enable Printer Pooling on Windows
- Select Devices and Printers.
- Open up the printer you want to use as the main device in the pool by right-clicking on that printer and choose Properties.
- Go to the Ports tab.
- Check the box for Enable Printer Pooling and select the ports of the additional printers you want to include.
And that’s it! You’ve now activated printer pooling, meaning any document can print on any printer within that group.
Common Printer Pooling Terms Explained
To understand printer pooling, let’s cover a few terms you might come across:
1. Print Spooler
What your computer’s print spooler does is manage all of the print jobs sent to your printers. It’s essentially the ‘traffic director’ when it comes to your printing needs.
2. Spooling Area
It is temporary storage that keeps print jobs until it’s ready for a printer to process them.
How to Enable Printer Pooling on Windows
Setting up printer pooling on Windows is straightforward. Here’s how you do it:
- Open Control Panel: Take to Control Panel > Devices and Printers.
- Select Printer Properties: Click on Printer, and right-click on Printer Properties.
- Enable Pooling in Ports Tab: Navigate to the Ports tab, check Enable Printer Pooling, and select the ports of other printers you’d like to add to the pool.
Printer Pooling on Mac: Is it Possible?
Printer pooling isn’t a built-in feature on MacOS, but there are workarounds. Installing third-party software that does pooling or manually assigning different printers to specific printing jobs.
Troubleshooting Common Printer Pooling Issues
Even with printer pooling, issues can arise. Here are some common problems and solutions:
1. Printer Hangs on Spooling
This occurs if the spooling area is overloaded. If that doesn’t work, clearing the spooler queue often times helps.
2. Printer Spool Stuck
A job that is stuck can be cancelled, and the spooler service restarted.
3. Spool Area Full
If your spool area is full, your computer has to be restarted, or the spool queue has to be cleared to make room for new print jobs.
What is Print Spooler on Android?
If you’re printing from an Android device, you may wonder, “What is print spooler on Android?” Printing on Android devices works via a print spooler, which holds your print requests waiting to be put to paper until you ask the phone to. It’s not nearly as much as you can get on a desktop spooler, but is handy for simple printing on the go.
Printer Pooling in Office Environments
Printer pooling is especially helpful in large offices where multiple users print documents daily. High traffic printers can be set up in a pool that can increase productivity very easily. Also, it allows for the plus of everyone using shared printers, and lessens device congestion and speeds up the whole office’s workflow.
Advantages of Printer Pooling for Remote Work
In remote work setups, printer pooling can prevent overloading personal devices, especially if several family members or roommates need to print. Even if you print just a few household printers at home into a pool, it becomes everyone in the office gets their printing done faster.
How to Disable Printer Pooling (If Needed)
If you find printer pooling isn’t working for you, it’s easy to disable:
- If it doesn’t automatically fix itself, go back to your Control Panel and Devices and Printers.
- Go to Right-click to the pooled printer and choose Properties.
- In the Ports tab, uncheck Enable Printer Pooling.
But this will begin your setup back down with original, non-pooled settings.
How to Run Your Printer Pool Smoothly
1. Regular Maintenance
Make sure printer paper jams and do periodic maintenance of all pooled printers.
2. Manage the Queue
Watch the print queue to see if there’s anything that may be slowing things down.
3. Driver Updates
In order not to enter into the problem of compatibility, make sure that all pooled printers are using the latest drivers.
Related Troubleshooting Links
For additional support, you might find these links helpful:
Conclusion
Printer pooling is especially useful for anyone who has lots of print jobs on their hands, or for those who are overseeing a group of printers. When this feature is enabled, you will have the best printers working at their optimum best, few waiting time and ensures every print work is done. Whether you are dealing with plenty of documents in the course of your business or operating many devices in your own home, printer pooling can definitely be a good decision to cater a much better solution when it comes to printing.
FAQs about Printer Pooling
1. How is it like when a printer in a pool goes out of order?
If a printer is in the pool and it is offline then the print jobs will be automatically forwarded to the next printer in the pool.
2. Is it possible to add models different to the printer pool?
Yes, it’s possible provided that the printers utilize the same drivers, and are installed in the same port, different models of printers can make up a pool.
3. How can I find if printer pooling has been enabled?
Look at the Ports tab in the Properties of a printer. As would be expected, if “Enable Printer Pooling” has been selected then pooling is active.
4. Is printer pooling suitable for home printer usage?
It depends. Printer pooling is especially advantageous, particularly in businesses or workplaces, where there is large printing demand, however it is also effective if adopted in home environments.
5. Is printer pooling accuracy a factor in print quality?
Again, grouping does not affect the quality of the prints. These many printers print at their own quality level therefore does not matter the pooling triangle configuration.
