Common Printing Problems and Solutions

If you have a problem when printing, copying or scanning, you can always contact the IT Helpdesk or use the live chat on the IT website. However, you might be able to solve the problem yourself using the tips below.

Problem: You login expecting to find your print jobs, but no jobs awaiting release are displayed.

If you are printing in colour from a PC workstation, you should firstly check that you have acknowledged and cleared the onscreen popup when you pressed Print. There may be a small delay in this being shown, so please be patient. If you are using a Chromebook, make sure you are printing on A4 or A3 paper – see “Your print is denied due to a disallowed paper size” below.

Problem: You login and release a print but nothing happens.

If your document contains lots of colour images or graphics, then there will be a short delay before the machine will print, so please be patient. A flashing blue light on the machine means it is processing your print.

Problem: The PrinterPool machine experiences a paper jam.

If you are a student, please ask a member of staff to help you remove paper from the machine. If the paper cannot be removed easily, do not apply force. Instead, call the IT helpdesk or use the live chat on the IT website and we will come and help you.

Problem: Your printout is not as expected.

This could cover a whole range of problems, but the advice is the same: double-check your settings and then report the problem to us. If we find that there is an issue with the machine, we will refund the cost of your print.

Problem: Your print is denied due to a disallowed paper size.

To reduce the amount of issues around the site, we only allow printing on A4 and A3 paper. If your document size is not A4 or A3, then you can still print it, but you must choose to print on A4 or A3 paper in your print settings. On Chromebooks, the paper size selection is accessed by expanding the More settings section in the print preview. A quick way to print at A5 without wasting paper is to select two pages to a sheet on A4.

Problem: Your scanned document is too large.

There is a 20 MB limit on scanned documents sent by email and a 200 MB limit for those sent to Drive. If you are scanning to email, you should try scanning to Drive instead. If you are scanning to Drive and receive this message, please contact us as we may be able to retrieve your document.