Canon Printers can show offline for multiple reasons and there is nothing to worry about as this can happen with any printer brand available out there. Like any other technical device, a printer can have issues and one of the most common issues faced by printer users is when it shows offline.
If your Canon printer also keeps going offline on several occasions, you are in the right place. Here you will find solutions to deal with this error at the earliest; moreover, the solutions are easy to apply and require no technical know-how.
So let’s begin.
Reasons for Which Canon Printer Says Offline
Before you start the hunt for the right solution, it would be better to know why my Canon printer is offline. So here we have listed out some reasons due to which a Canon printer shows offline status:
- Connection error between computer and printer
- Cables are not properly connected to the printer and wall outlet
- The printer driver you have installed has gone outdated.
- The printer software is not updated
- There is an error in settings and that’s why the printer is going offline.
Solutions to ‘Canon Printer Shows Offline’ Error
1. Reconnect your Printer to Wi-Fi
If the Canon printer is not connected to Wi-Fi, first, you should go for reconnecting your device to your Wi-Fi router to get the Canon printer back online. To do this:
- From the printer settings, ‘Forget’ the router and then reconnect it.
- Now, press and hold the printer’s Wi-Fi button and you will see the Wi-Fi light starts blinking.
- Then head towards the router and press the WPS button.
- The Wi-Fi light while blinking will search for networks and when it connects to the network, the Wi-Fi light will remain lit.
2. Restart the Spooler Service
The next thing you can try is to restart the spooler service using the steps given below:
- Launch the ‘Start’ menu and type ‘Services’; from the menu, click on ‘Services’.
- Right-click on ‘Print Spooler’ service and then click on ‘Restart’. If you don’t see the ‘Restart’ option highlighted, click on the ‘Start’ option.
- Again right-click on the ‘Print Spooler’ service and then click on ‘Properties’; for the Startup type, select ‘Automatic’ and then click on ‘Ok’ to save the changes.
- Now restart your Canon printer and check if the issue got resolved.
3. Disable ‘Use Printer Offline’ Feature
When your Canon printer says offline, you must ensure that the ‘Use Printer Offline’ feature is disabled or else disable it using the following steps:
- In the search box of the Start menu, type ‘Control Panel’, and from the search results, select the same.
- Next, click on ‘Hardware and Sound’ and then click on ‘Devices and Printers’.
- Now, look for your Canon printer and after right-clicking on it, select the option ‘See what’s printing’.
- Now, click on the ‘Printer’ tab and then ensure that the ‘Use Printer Offline’ option is unchecked and if it is selected, you need to uncheck it.
- Again, click on the ‘Printer’ tab and then click on the ‘Cancel All Documents’.
This is how you can get your Canon printer back online.
4. Reinstall the Software
No matter if you own Windows 10, Mac or you are trying to print from your iPhone, there can be several reasons why your Canon printer is offline; software issues being the common ones. You can visit the official Canon Software and Drivers page or follow the steps given below:
- Press ‘Windows key and R’ at the same time on your keyboard and this will open the ‘Run’ dialog box; type devmgmt.msc and click ‘Ok’.
- Under ‘Print queues’, look for your Canon printer; right-click on it and then click on ‘Uninstall device’.
- Now, download the latest driver and software for your Canon printer and install it on your device.
- Restart your computer and check if your Canon printer is still showing offline.
5. Update Windows
If you are mainly facing the ‘Canon printer offline’ issue on Windows 10, to fix it you can try getting the updates for it as the issue can arise when the system is out of date.
- In the ‘Start’ menu of Windows 10, type ‘update’.
- Select the option that says ‘Check for updates’.
- If the updates would be available, Windows will automatically install them on your device.
- Once the updates are installed, restart your system and check if the problem with the Canon printer has got fixed.