You may find the need to manually make the Printer Online, if the printer has gone offline and not responding to Print commands from your computer.
In general, printers usually go offline due to the paper getting stuck or jammed in the printer, Printer running out of paper and also due to the printer being unable to process the print job.
Make Printer Online in Windows 11/10
If your printer has suddenly gone offline, you should be able to make the printer online by clearing the paper jam, filling up the paper tray and restarting the printer.
If the problem is not related to paper jam or lack of paper, you should be able to make the printer online by using any of the following methods.
1. Make Printer Online Using Settings
An easy way to make the printer online on a Windows computer is by using the Settings App.
1. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & Scanners > select your Printer (it will be listed as offline).
2. On the next screen, click on Open queue option.
Windows 10: Go to Settings > Devices > Printer & Scanners (left-pane) > select your Printer and click on Open queue option.
3. On the next screen, click on Use Printer Offline option to remove the check mark from this item.
4. Wait for the printer to come back online.
2. Make Printer Online Using Windows Search
You can go directly to the “Printers & Scanners” Settings page by using Windows Search bar.
1. Type Printers in the search bar and click on Printers & Scanners in the search results.
2. On Printers & scanners screen, select the Printer that you want to make online.
3. On the next screen, click on Open print queue option.
4. On the next screen, click on the Printer tab and click on Use Printer Offline to remove the check mark.
5. Wait for the printer to come back online.
3. Make Printer Online From System Tray
Plug a USB Drive to the computer and this will allow you to access “Devices and Printers” menu from the Hidden Menu Icon in the System Tray.
1. Click on Hidden menu Icon in the System Tray > right-click on USB Drive Icon and click on Open Devices and Printers.
2. On the next screen, right-click on the Faded Offline Printer and click on See what’s printing3
3. On the next screen, go to Printer Tab and uncheck Use Printer Offline option by clicking on it.
4. The printer should to come back online within a few seconds.
4. Make Printer Online Using Device Manager
You can also make use of the “Device Manager” utility, as available in Windows to make the Printer online.
1. Right-click on Start button and click on Device Manager.
2. On the Device Manager screen, select any device > click on the Action tab and select Devices and Printers option in the drop-down menu.
3. On Devices and Printers screen, right-click on the Offline Printer (it will appear Faded) and select See what’s printing option in the contextual menu.
4. On the next screen, select the Printer Tab and click on Use Printer Offline option to remove the check mark on this item.
5. Wait for the printer to come back online.
Once the printer comes back online, it should start printing whatever was in the print queue.