Tulostusjonot

Tulostusjonot, often translated as "print queues" or "spooler queues," refers to the holding area where print jobs are stored before being sent to a printer. When a user sends a document to be printed, the operating system or a dedicated print spooler service doesn't immediately send it to the physical printer. Instead, the job is placed in a queue. This queue acts as a temporary buffer, managing the order and flow of multiple print requests.

This spooling process allows the user's computer to free up resources quickly after initiating a print job. The computer can then move on to other tasks while the print spooler manages the communication with the printer. This is particularly useful when multiple users are printing to the same printer or when a user sends large documents. The print queue ensures that jobs are printed in a fair and organized manner, typically on a first-come, first-served basis, though priority settings can sometimes alter this order.

Users can often interact with the print queue through a dedicated window or interface. This allows them to view pending print jobs, cancel jobs that have been sent in error, pause or resume printing, and sometimes even reorder the queue. The print spooler service itself is a background process that handles the transmission of data from the queue to the printer, converting it into a format the printer can understand and then sending it in manageable chunks. Issues with print queues, such as a stalled job, can often prevent subsequent jobs from printing and may require restarting the print spooler service to resolve.