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PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT

Why can’t I print email attachments?

Q As a long-time Computeractive reader, I’m used to hearing about other people’s problems. However, I’m now experiencing a problem of my own and would very much like your advice.

I recently started having trouble printing email attachments. When I click the Print button, the box pops up as usual, but then I receive a message saying ‘loading preview’. This just sits there for a few minutes, followed by a message telling me the print was unsuccessful. Any thoughts about a possible solution?

Mike Smith

A This is certainly odd and we can’t be sure of the cause. First, have you tried downloading the attachment to your Windows desktop rather than printing directly from the email? That way, you can open the file in the relevant program and try printing from there.

You didn’t tell us which email program or service you use but your message arrived from a gmail.com address, so we assume you’re using Gmail. That being the case, clearing your browser’s cache and cookies might help resolve the issue.

In Chrome, for example, open the menu (three dots, top right), then click ‘Delete browsing data’. What and how much data you delete is up to you. If you’d rather not delete everything at once, proceed by trial and error, deleting the last few weeks of cookies, for example. You won’t lose much by deleting the cache, though, so keep the ‘Cached images and files’ box ticked (see screenshot 1 ).

If you’re using a third-party email client such as Thunderbird, look for the option to use the Windows Print box rather than the software’s own. In Thunderbird, you’ll find this option by scrolling to the bottom of its own Print box 2 . If you’re able to print when using the Windows Print box, consider reinstalling your email tool.

As a final option, when the problem next arises, try restarting the Windows Print Spooler service, because this sometimes fixes printing problems.

To do this, first press Windows+R to open the Run box, then type services.msc 3 and press Enter. Next, in the Services pane, under the Name column, scroll through the list to find the Print Spooler entry. Right-click this and choose Restart from the menu that appears. Wait a few moments and then, once Print Spooler is Running again (which you can see in the Status column), try printing the attachment to see if it works.

Hopefully, one of these suggestions will solve your problem, but as this is a curious one, we’ll throw it open to your fellow readers. So, if anyone has any more suggestions as to what might be causing Mike’s problem, let us know.

Set Thunderbird to use Windows’ print box by clicking this option at the bottom of Thunderbird’s own print box

To access the Windows Print Spooler, press Windows+R to open the Run box, then type services.msc and press Enter

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