You can edit a film on a laptop on a train. You cannot reliably print one page of A4 from six feet away. The printer is the last thing in the office that still behaves as if it were 2004, and it is not your fault.
In short
Most printer trouble is one of three things: a stuck queue, a lost connection or an old driver.
All three can be fixed in a few minutes without touching the printer's own menus.
A printer that needs rescuing every week is costing you more than a new one would.
Why printers are like this
A printer is a small, cheap computer made by a company that earns its money on ink. Its software gets little attention once it has left the shop. It has to talk to Macs, PCs and phones over Wi-Fi it only half understands, and it goes to sleep so deeply that the network forgets it exists.
Fix 1: clear the queue
One stuck job blocks everything behind it, and every time you press Print again you add another. On a Mac, open System Settings, go to Printers & Scanners, choose the printer and open its queue. Delete everything in it. Then print once. Not six times.
Fix 2: wake it up properly
Turn the printer off at the wall, count to ten and turn it back on. Give it a full minute. It rejoins the network and announces itself again. If it is on Wi-Fi and keeps vanishing, a network cable is the best upgrade a printer can have.
Fix 3: remove it and add it again
In Printers & Scanners, remove the printer, then add it back and let the Mac choose AirPrint. That swaps an old driver for the modern built-in one, which cures a remarkable number of mysteries.
When to give up
The maker has stopped releasing updates for it.
It needs one of the fixes above every week.
A set of cartridges costs more than the printer did.
A dull, reliable office laser printer is one of the best-value things a studio can buy. Nobody has ever regretted replacing the bad one.
Rather never think about the printer again?
We set printers up properly the first time: on a cable, with a fixed address and the right driver, so they stay where you left them. Talk to us, or see office IT setup.