With hybrid work environments all the rage right now, slow printing can be a real drag ā especially in networked office settings where users rely on shared devices. And the funny thing is, the root cause of sluggish print performance is rarely the printer itself. Instead, it’s often tied to bigger, network-related issues. Print server bottlenecks. Bandwidth limits. Slow DNS resolution. The list goes on and on. In this article, weāre going to run through 10 critical factors that may be causing your printer to print slowly, and what to do to fix them.
Overloaded print server bottlenecks
A central print server manages multiple print queues and jobs. Thatās basically what itās for. When that server gets overloaded, especially in large enterprise environments, performance gets throttled. High CPU or memory utilization on the server can delay processing print jobs, causing a noticeable slowdown for users. This is especially the case when youāve got simultaneous large document submissions, or when servers double as general-purpose file servers. We always recommend server load balancing to fix this exact issue.
Bandwidth limitations in distributed environments
In remote offices or satellite locations, limited WAN bandwidth can severely impact your printing speeds. Sending large print jobs, especially graphics-heavy documents, across a constrained network link can cause delays, particularly if other critical business applications share that same bandwidth. Think of it like too many cars trying to fit through the same tunnel. To fix this, you can either compress print jobs, use remote print servers , or try some WAN optimization techniques (traffic shaping, data compression, caching, data deduplication and so on).
Slow DNS resolution
If printer names have to be resolved via DNS (Domain Name System), and those DNS servers are slow to respond or badly misconfigured, discovery and connection to the printer can be delayed. This oneās often overlooked but can be especially problematic in environments with mobile or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) printing, where name resolution plays a key role in syncing users and devices. For network printing best practice, try and make sure that DNS servers are fast and geographically local where possible, and properly configured with accurate records. Weāve covered the ins and outs of DNS over here , if you want to learn more.
Incorrect drivers
Donāt neglect the humble print driver. Installing the wrong printer driver (or using a generic driver that lacks optimizations for specific MFDs) can drastically affect print speed. For example, using a PCL driver on a printer that performs best with PostScript can slow processing to a crawl. Additionally, shared drivers can cause delays when one model tries to interpret anotherās job format. Wherever possible install model-specific drivers and keep them updated. For more information, check out our guide on print driver deployment .
High spooling times due to rasterization
No, nothing to do with Bob Marley. Rasterization converts text and graphics into a bitmap image before printing, a process that can chew up significant time and memory, especially on the client side. If this occurs before the job reaches the printer, or the server, it consumes local resources and adds latency. Drag, right? Thatās why it always pays to use server-side spooling , where possible.
Poor print job prioritization
How do you keep your print queue flowing smoothly? Print job prioritization. Without something sorting the big from the small, the important from the not important, large or complex documents can quickly clog the print queue, forcing users printing smaller, simpler stuff to waitā¦and wait. Many print environments are first-in, first-out (FIFO) without rules to prioritize high-priority departments or documents. This is, shall we say, sub-optimal. To fix the issue, get some print management software with intelligent job routing , allowing urgent jobs to skip the queue (when needed).
Firewall interference
Those pesky firewalls. Always in the way, right? When it comes to network printing, firewalls, deep packet inspection tools, and intrusion prevention systems can sometimes interfere with print protocols like LPR/LPD, IPP and SMB. If these tools are inspecting every print job, or delaying comms between clients and print servers, users can experience significant print delays. Whitelisting printer traffic, or creating print-specific firewall rules, should fix this issue. Just donāt turn off the firewall itself! Thatās like removing your front door because the lock slows you down.
Remote site VPN throttling
VPNs are commonly used for secure printing across remote or home office environments (and also for some other, less noble, pirate-type activities, which we wonāt go into here). However, some VPN configurations can throttle your network bandwidth, or deprioritize print traffic in favor of voice or video. This causes print jobs to be transmitted more slowly, especially over consumer-grade internet connections. If you can, configure Quality of Service (QoS) policies to prioritize print traffic on VPN tunnels, or consider split tunnelling to offload your print traffic altogether.
Printer memory and firmware mismatch
A printer with insufficient RAM or outdated firmware can struggle to process complex jobs efficiently. Youāll definitely notice this when printing PDFs with embedded fonts or high-resolution graphics. Firmware mismatches can also introduce compatibility issues with newer print drivers, which tends to cause headaches. The best remedy? Upgrading your printer memory whenever you can, and ensuring firmware is regularly updated. Failing that, if your printer fleet is beginning to age out, a full-scale upgrade may be necessary.
Lack of Print Analytics Leading to Blind Spots
Without print analytics , IT teams are often left in the dark when diagnosing print slowness. As you can see from the list above, there are a lot of potential culprits. But fundamentally, they all trace back to the same thing: lack of visibility.
Lack of visibility into job sizes, submission times, queue lengths, or failure rates means root causes often go undetected. Sometimes for years. This results in prolonged troubleshooting cycles and tons of user frustration. At PaperCut, we always recommend deploying print analytic tools to monitor and report on print behavior across the network. With the right print management setup in place, any bottlenecks can be spotted and isolated ā letting you diagnose the problem, and get back to printing.