A job's printer output (also called spooled files) is sent to an output queue where it waits to be sent to a printer or file. The output queue is similar to the job queue in that it controls how the output is made available to the printer. The output queue allows the user to control what files are printed first.
Output queues are areas where printer output files wait to be processed and sent to the printer. Printer output is created either by the system or by the user using a print file. A print file is similar to a template or a guideline where the default values for the attributes of printer output are set. It is the beginning of the printer output life cycle.
The print file contains the output queue (OUTQ) and print device (DEV) attributes, which dictate how the printer output is to be directed. The default settings are typically *JOB, meaning that the job attributes of the output queue and printer device determine how the printer output is directed. The job attributes of the output queue and printer device settings are based on information obtained when the job is created. This is based on information from the user profile that the job is running under, the job description, the workstation device description, and the Default printer (QPRTDEV) system value.
When the printer output is ready to be created, the system checks the print file and the job attributes (in this order) to see what output queue will process the printer output and which printer device the system will use. If a specified output queue cannot be found, the printer output will be directed to QGPL/QPRINT.
After the printer output file is ready to be printed, a writer job, a job that processes the printer output from the output queue to the printer device, takes data from the printer output file and sends it to the designated printer.