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TMO Quick Tip - Leopard: Auto Quit Print Spools

by , 7:30 AM EST, December 26th, 2007

Mac OS X 10.5 has an interesting printing feature -- or bug, depending on your perspective. The printer spool icon remains in the Dock even after your document finishes printing. It's a nice feature if you always want quick access to a specific printer's job list, but it does clutter up the Dock.

If you don't want the printer spool icon to stay in the Dock after you are done printing, you can force the icon to behave just as it did in pre-Leopard days. Here's how:

  • Click and hold on the printer icon in the Dock.
  • Choose Auto Quit from the pop-up contextual menu.


Auto quitting a printer removes its icon form the Dock after a print job completes.

Now the printer spool icon will automatically go away after a job completes printing.

Jeff Gamet is TMO's Morning Editor and Reviews Editor. He lectures, teaches and speaks on Mac OS X and design-related topics, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X from Peachpit Press.

if you have tips or tricks to share, or Mac-related questions you want answered.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:computerbandgeek Posts: 52 Joined: 09 Jun 2006
Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:49 pm Subject: ARGH

Now, why on earth isn't that the default behavior. Most people don't need that and the less savvy users that don't even know what a printer cue list is and therefore don't need the icon are the same people that don't know that they can right-click on their dock!


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Close Name:Guest
Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:53 am Subject: Printer icon in Dock

Okay, I haven't tried it yet, but a thought occurred to me on this subject. Remember when printing a document from the Finder was as easy as dragging the file icon to the printer icon? Does this new Dock behavior allow drag-and-drop printing, something users have been requesting for awhile? (And now that we have it, we're not sure why it's working that way?) Gonna have to try that when I get home...


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