Windows 11 works like a charm with all popular wired and wireless printers from major manufacturers. Sometimes, you want to print multiple files, documents, or Excel sheets at once. Instead of opening and printing each file individually, use the tricks below to print multiple files on Windows.
There are multiple ways to select more than one file for printing in Windows 11—and they all require different key combinations. You can use the default method or third-party apps to print multiple PDF files and documents at once.
Print multiple files without opening them on Windows 11
We'll first show you how to run an existing print queue on Windows. If there's any printing running in the background, complete or cancel it. Otherwise, you may encounter errors when printing multiple files at once. Without further ado, let's get started.
Step 1: Press Windows + I keys to launch Settings.
Step 2: Locate Bluetooth and Devices and open Printers and scanners.
Step 3: This will display All printers that you have installed.
Step 5: Navigate to the relevant File Explorer location. You can only mark multiple files in the same location (for example, your desktop), but not files in two different locations. If you want to do this, you'll need to repeat the process for each directory location with some of the files you want to print—or you can move them to the same location first.
Select multimedia, Word, and Excel files.
Use the Control key to select multiple files. This is the easiest way to mark several files for printing. To use this hotkey, click the first file you want to select, and then press the Control key. While holding this key, click all the other files you want to print. Don't worry about releasing the key—you can release the Control key to scroll up and down, for example, if you haven't clicked anywhere. Hold the key again to select more files.
In the lower left corner of File Explorer, a small counter will tell you how many files you have selected. Use this to check whether you have all the files you want. When you have selected everything you want to print, press the Control + P keyboard shortcut simultaneously. The usual print menu will open, and you'll be able to select your printer and continue the process as usual.
Tip: By holding the Control key and clicking on an already selected file, you can deselect the said file.
This key combination is ideal for selecting a larger number of contiguous files. For example, if you have a series of images titled “1.png”, “2.png”, “3.png”, “20.png” etc., and you just want to select the images. 4.png To “11.png.”
To use it, click the first (or last) file in the series you want to mark and hold down the Control+Shift keyboard shortcut. Then click the other end of the series of files you want to print. All files between the two you clicked will be selected.
After using this command to select a range, you can also use a single Control key press to add or remove individual files from your selection. However, you cannot add a second range to it.
After selecting all the files you want to print, press the keyboard shortcut Control + P and follow the steps to print the files.
If you still can't open the Print menu, use the steps below.
Step 1: Select the media files you want to print and right-click on them. Selection.
Step 2: Locate “Show more options.”
Step 3: Opens the old Windows context menu. Press print.
The above trick works as expected in Microsoft Word files as well.
Tip: If you've made a longer selection and want to shorten the overall selection without having to deselect each file, you can do that too – hold Shift and click the file you want to be the last in the selection.
Print Multiple PDF Files on Windows
You can select multiple PDF files using the steps above, but you can't print them all at once. You need to use third-party apps to print PDF files in batches. Wondershare PDFelement is one such app that can manage PDF files like a pro.
Step 1: Download the Wondershare PDFelements Using the link below.
Download Wondershare PDFelements
Step 2: turn on File Explorer and select PDF files Multiple using key trick CTRL.
Step 3: Right click on your selection and select Show more options.
Step 4: Locate “Batch printing with Wondershare PDFelements.”
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the print job in a short time.
Print all files in a folder
We hope this tutorial has helped you learn how to print multiple files on Windows 11. If you encounter Error printing files on WindowsPlease check out our dedicated guide to fix the issue.
