AbortPrinter function

Article
01/07/2021

The AbortPrinter function deletes a printer's spool file if the printer is configured for spooling.

Syntax

BOOL AbortPrinter(
  _In_ HANDLE hPrinter
);

Parameters

hPrinter [in]: Handle to the printer from which the spool file is deleted. Use the OpenPrinter or AddPrinter function to retrieve a printer handle.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a nonzero value.

If the function fails, the return value is zero.

Remarks

Note

This is a blocking or synchronous function and might not return immediately. How quickly this function returns depends on run-time factors such as network status, print server configuration, and printer driver implementation factors that are difficult to predict when writing an application. Calling this function from a thread that manages interaction with the user interface could make the application appear to be unresponsive.

If the printer is not configured for spooling, the AbortPrinter function has no effect.

The sequence for a print job is as follows:

To begin a print job, call StartDocPrinter.
To begin each page, call StartPagePrinter.
To write data to a page, call WritePrinter.
To end each page, call EndPagePrinter.
Repeat 2, 3, and 4 for as many pages as necessary.
To end the print job, call EndDocPrinter.

When a page in a spooled file exceeds approximately 350 MB, it can fail to print and not send an error message. For example, this can occur when printing large EMF files. The page size limit depends on many factors including the amount of virtual memory available, the amount of memory allocated by calling processes, and the amount of fragmentation in the process heap.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Header	Winspool.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Winspool.lib
DLL	Spoolss.dll