Working with printer output

Many jobs on the IBM® i operating system result in printer output. You can find, track, and manage printer output across the system.

Many jobs generate output that requires printing. The operating system handles this by creating spooled files that contain the document data and processing instructions for the print job. After creating the spooled files, the operating system sends them to an output queue. Similar to a job queue, output queues hold many spooled files until a printer becomes available. The output queue that the operating system sends the spooled file to varies according to the job attributes, user profile, and workstation settings. Before any of the spooled files can be printed, a printer device must be varied on, and a print writer started. The print writer is an IBM i function that runs for each active printer on the system. When started, the print writer watches the specified output queue (or queues) and sends the spooled files to its printer.