Clear entire print queue in OS X with a Terminal command

cgonyea — Mon, 26 May 2008 13:44:54 +0000

If you need to clear your entire print queue in Mac OS X for whatever reason, there is a simple terminal command you can type to do the job.

Simply:

Launch Terminal
Type cancel -a -
Success!

All print jobs in the print queue should now be gone!

I have only tested this in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. I assume it will work in 10.4 Tiger as well.

Mac Tip – Grouping applications into stacks

cgonyea — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:12:16 +0000

One of the new features in OS X Leopard that has lots of potential is Stacks. Here is a neat way to create several stacks for various groups of applications.

Create a folder named ‘Stacks’ in your home directory
Create aliases for several applications you want to group and put it in a sub-folder within your ‘Stacks’ folder. For example, create aliases for all of the iLife apps and put them in an ‘iLife’ folder underneath the ‘Stacks’ folder you created.
Simply drag the ‘iLife’ folder into your dock.
Now you have a stack grouping all of your iLife apps together! You can then remove the individual dock icons for these apps, as they are no longer need. Instantly more dock space!
You can then right-click the stack and set several options, including making the stack use grid mode (which I prefer over the fan).

You can easily create several stacks to organize your various applications, making them easy to find. For those of you who have dozens of applications you use regularly, this is really nice.

Chris Gonyea » tips

Clear entire print queue in OS X with a Terminal command

Mac Tip – Grouping applications into stacks