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Transfer documents to another printer

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To transfer documents to another printer

Use this procedure to send your documents to an alternate printer when your printer has failed and your documents are stuck in the print queue. To redirect documents to another printer, you must have the Manage Printers permission for both printers, which is one of several printer permissions. For more information, click Related Topics.

Since the documents you send to the printer are converted into that printer's language, you must redirect the documents to the same type of printer, such as a laser, ink-jet, or dot-matrix.

  1. Open Printers and Faxes.

  2. Double-click the printer that holds the document(s) you want to redirect.

  3. On the Printer menu, click Properties.

  4. Click the Ports tab, and then do one of the following:

    To send documents to another printer on the same print server

    • Click the port to which the other printer is assigned and then click OK.

    To send documents to a printer on a different print server

    The printer must already exist and be shared on the print server.

    • Click Add Port, click Local Port, and then click New Port. Type the name of the other print server and the share name of the shared printer in the following format:

      **\\other_print_server\**share_name

Notes

  • To open Printers and Faxes, click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.

  • You can also open printer properties in Printers and Faxes by clicking a printer, and then clicking Set printer properties under Tasks on the left side of the window. This option is available only if folders are set to look like a Web page and a printer is selected. For more information, click Related Topics.

  • The document currently printing cannot be transferred to another printer.

  • If the printer holding the print jobs is offline or has a paper jam, the document showing the error cannot be moved to a new port.

  • If a print job shows an error, all subsequent print jobs will be held until the document is deleted from the print queue.

  • For more information on administering printers from the command line, see Related Topics.

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

See Also

Concepts

Print a document
Assigning printer permissions
Prnport.vbs