Is Your Brother Printer Offline? Here is How to Fix it

Brother has established itself as an industry leader. Even after stiff competition from big wigs like HP, Epson, Canon, etc, Brother stood the challenge. The brand has a reputation for providing high-quality printers that cater to a wide range. These include households, offices, and even commercial settlements. Also, there is a robust support team that addresses the issues in no time. In this blog, we cover a common issue that has been widely reported. It is the error of Brother Printer Offline status.

Why Does the Brother Printer Offline Issue Occur?

Imagine that you have a submission to make the next day, and you see the Brother Printer Offline. It is sure to cause panic. However, you must know the reason behind this error.

• The first possibility is that there can be paper jam in the printer.
• There can also be a blockage in the ink toner.
• It is also possible that your Brother printer is not set as default.
• You might also have an inefficient network connection between your system and the printer.
• Another print job is stuck in a long queue of printers.
• Also, your system can be running corrupt or outdated printer drivers.
• One more probable cause is that the printer is set to “Use Offline Mode”. 
• Faulty printer settings can also be a cause of the issue.

Different Ways to Fix Brother Printer Offline Issue

Now that you know the reasons, let us skip to the main section. Here you will get the fixes to the issue.

First Fix: Set Brother Printer as Default

It is possible that the command is reaching another printer. Hence this leads to the Brother Printer Offline issue.

1. Use Search or Run to go to the ‘Control Panel’ 
2. After that, click on ‘Devices and Printers. The printer list will appear on the display.
3. Now, right-click on Brother printer from the list of printers
4. After that, opt for ‘Set as Default Printer’.
5. Once done, you can restart your printer. Now try to print to assure whether the issue is still there or not.

Second Fix: Uncheck Offline Status of the Status

If this option is on, the printer will stay in offline mode. All you need to do is remove the tick before it.

1. First, you need to launch the Control Panel. For this, you can use the same way as described previously.
2. After that, click on ‘Devices and Printers’ option.
3. Now you have to right-click on the Brother’s print icon 
4. Here you have to click on ‘see what is printing.
5. Once done, click on the printer option from the top of the window.
6. Now you have to remove the ticking present before the ‘use Printer Offline’ option.
7. After that, opt for the ‘cancel All Documents’ option.

Third Fix: Clear the Queue of Print Jobs and Restart Print Spooler 

The print queue might hinder your work if it is full. To empty the queue and restart the spooler, follow these steps:

1. First, you have to use the Windows search or Run command. Using it, open the Service Windows.
2. Now you need to look in the service panel, then tap on the ‘Print Spooler’.
3. Right-click on ‘Print Spooler’ option 
4. After that, opt for the ‘Stop’ option.
5. Next up, launch File Explorer.
6. Now you need to browse to the location: C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
7. You can also copy and paste the location on the File Explorer address bar. 
8. After that, you need to hit the Enter button.
9. Select all files from the printer folder, and then hit the Delete key.
10. Next up, right-click on the ‘Print Spooler’ option.
11. Finally, you have to choose the ‘Start’ option to run the spooler service again.

Fourth Fix: Check For Printer Jam

This is an archetypical physical issue. Hence to fix it, you need to look into the hardware.

1. First, you need to switch off the printer if you detect a paper jam between the rollers. We recommend that you unplug for safety.
2. The next step is to pull out the jammed paper.
3. Finally, open the printer and set back the rollers gently. After that, send a new Print command.

Fifth Fix: Update the Printer Driver

An old driver can cause a lot of issues. This can even be a complete stoppage of work. To resolve them all:

1. Right-click on the Start button. Now opt for the ‘Device Manager’ Option.
2. After that, you have to double-click on the print queue option to expand the list.
3. Next, you need to right-click on the printer to update the driver.
4. Select ‘Browse My Computer for Driver Software’ from the screen that appears afterwards.
5. After that, click on the ‘Browse’ button located right next to the Search for Drivers option.
6. Now you have to choose the folder to download the driver location. After that, click on ‘OK’
7. After that, hit the Next button. When the update is complete, click ‘Done’ 

To conclude

 The issue of Brother Printer is Offline can be a result of either hardware or software. However, it is pretty easy to fix. So if you get the error, follow the steps in the blog to fix Brother Printer Offline error.