Intro / Problem–Solution
You send a document to print, and instead of hearing that familiar hum, Windows or your Mac tells you the printer is "offline." The printer itself might look perfectly fine - powered on, lights steady, paper loaded - which makes the message even more confusing.
The good news is that "offline" almost never means your Canon printer is broken. It usually means your computer has lost track of it: a dropped Wi-Fi connection, a printer that isn't set as the default device, a stuck print queue, or a driver that needs updating. Below are the fixes in the order most likely to solve it fastest.
Causes of the Offline Error
A handful of things typically trigger the offline message:
- A dropped connection. Wi-Fi printers lose their link to the router more often than wired ones, especially after a router reboot or a change to your network password.
- Another printer set as default. If a second printer or a "PDF printer" got set as the default device, Windows may stop checking on your Canon printer at all.
- A jammed print queue. One stuck job can back up everything behind it and make the printer appear unreachable.
- An outdated or corrupted driver. Drivers that haven't updated in a while can lose their connection to newer versions of Windows or macOS.
- A paper jam, open cover, or low ink. Less common, but some Canon models will flip to an error or offline state until the physical issue is cleared.
Solutions to Fix a Canon Printer Offline Error
Solution 1: Turn Off "Use Printer Offline" Mode
Windows sometimes switches a printer into offline mode on its own, even when the printer is ready to go.
- Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners
- Select your Canon printer and choose Open print queue
- Click the Printer menu at the top of the queue window
- If Use Printer Offline has a checkmark next to it, click it to uncheck it
- Try printing a test page
Solution 2: Restart the Print Spooler Service
The print spooler is the background service that manages everything you send to print. When it hangs, printers often show as offline until it's restarted.
- Press the Windows key, type services, and open the Services app
- Scroll down to Print Spooler
- Right-click it and select Restart (if it isn't running, select Start instead)
- If it won't restart, right-click Print Spooler, open Properties, and set Startup type to Automatic, then click Start
Solution 3: Update or Reinstall the Canon Driver
An outdated driver is one of the more common causes on machines that haven't been updated in a while.
- Open Device Manager and expand Printers (or Print queues)
- Right-click your Canon printer and select Update driver
- Choose Search automatically for drivers
- If Windows doesn't find an update, go to Canon's official support site, download the current driver for your exact printer model, and install it directly
Solution 4: Set Your Canon Printer as the Default Device
If another printer or a virtual "print to PDF" option is set as default, your Canon printer can get skipped entirely.
- Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners
- Select your Canon printer
- Click Set as default
Solution 5: Check the Physical and Network Connection
If the steps above don't clear it, the issue is often the connection itself rather than a software setting.
- Restart both the printer and your router - power them off, wait 30 seconds, and power them back on
- Confirm the printer and your computer are on the same Wi-Fi network, not a guest network
- For USB connections, try a different cable or port
- On a Mac, open System Settings > Printers & Scanners, remove the Canon printer with the minus (–) button, wait a moment, then add it back with the plus (+) button
