Printers, Scanners, and Copiers in the Office

Understanding how printers work and how to manage the print queue is the foundation of keeping office printing running smoothly:

• The print queue is the list of pending print jobs waiting to reach the printer — access it by double-clicking the printer icon in the taskbar notification area, or through Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners > Open Queue. If the printer is not printing, check the queue first. A stalled or paused job at the top of the queue blocks all subsequent jobs. Right-click a stalled job and select Cancel to remove it and allow the queue to resume.
• Default printer settings — every Windows computer has a default printer that receives print jobs when you click Print without specifying a printer. At Lakeside Medical Associates, your default printer should be set to the correct local printer, not a cloud printer or a printer in another room. Change it in Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners — click the correct printer and select 'Set as default.'
• Print dialog options every professional should know: Copies (how many), Pages (all, current, or a page range), Print One Sided vs. Duplex (both sides — saves paper), and Orientation (portrait or landscape). Always preview before printing a multi-page document with complex formatting. Use Ctrl+P to open the print dialog from any application.
• Managing paper — different printers accept different paper sizes and types. Most office printers use 8.5×11 inch standard copy paper (letter size), 20 lb weight. When loading paper, align it properly in the tray — paper that is not square causes paper jams. Do not overfill the tray beyond the maximum fill line. When refilling, check that the paper guides are touching the paper edges without squeezing — loose guides allow paper to skew and jam.

Paper jams are the most common printer problem in any office and can almost always be resolved without IT. Here is the correct procedure:

• Open all printer panels to locate the jam — most multifunction printers have a front panel, a rear access panel, and a duplexing unit. The printer's display usually indicates which panel contains the jam. Open the indicated panel first but check all panels — torn paper fragments in any section prevent the jam from clearing.
• Remove jammed paper slowly and completely — grip the paper firmly and pull it out gently in the direction of the paper path. Never pull against the paper path direction — this tears the paper and leaves fragments inside the printer. If the paper tears, carefully remove every fragment before closing the panels. Even a small torn piece left inside will cause a new jam on the next print job.
• Check for paper fragments after clearing — open every access panel after removing the obvious jam and look carefully for small torn pieces. Use a flashlight if needed. The printer will not function correctly until every fragment is removed.
• Never use sharp objects to remove jammed paper — scissors, pens, or screwdrivers can damage the printer's rollers, the drum, or the fuser unit, turning a $0 paper jam into a $300 repair bill. Use only your hands, and only when the printer is powered on (so the fuser has fully cooled for laser printers — they operate at very high temperatures internally).

Scanners convert physical documents to digital files — an essential workflow in medical offices for patient intake forms, insurance cards, referral documents, and signed consent forms:

• Document feeder vs. flatbed scanning — most office multifunction printers have both. The automatic document feeder (ADF) accepts a stack of pages and scans each one automatically — use it for multi-page documents where the original condition does not matter. The flatbed (the glass surface) scans one page at a time but handles fragile, wrinkled, or bound documents that cannot go through the ADF. Always use the flatbed for original insurance cards, passports, and any document that cannot be damaged.
• Scan resolution for medical offices — 200–300 DPI (dots per inch) produces a clear, readable scan of most documents at a manageable file size. Higher resolutions (600+ DPI) are for detailed graphics or when text must be very small. Scanning at 600 DPI creates files 4× larger than 300 DPI for no practical improvement in readability for standard documents. Set your scanner's default to 300 DPI PDF output for consistent, efficient document handling.
• Scan-to-email routes the scanned file directly to an email address without a computer — set up on the printer's touchscreen by entering a scan destination email address. At Lakeside Medical Associates, scan-to-email is typically configured to send scanned documents to a shared email inbox or directly to your workstation email. If scan-to-email stops working, the most common causes are an expired email password (update it in the printer's network settings) or a change in the email server settings (notify IT).
• Scan-to-folder sends the scanned file directly to a network folder — a common and efficient setup in medical offices where scanned patient documents should go directly to a specific folder on the network drive. This avoids the email attachment workflow entirely. If your printer supports it, ask IT to configure scan-to-folder destinations for the most common document types you handle.