Word not printing but Excel and other apps have no problem


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johnpd

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I was helping a friend who was having an issue with Word not printing but Excel prints fine. We tried multiple Word documents as well as two different printers with the same result. Once we click "Print" I see the printer icon appear on the Taskbar for a few seconds then disappear with no actual printing taking place. Excel, text, and PDF documents have no issue. We reinstalled Office, but that had no affect. Any ideas?

JohnD
 

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Will a Word doc print as pdf?

A Guy
 

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Not a fix, but a test certainly...the resulting pdf could be printed as well (hopefully ;) ). Did you also try creating a new Word document and printing that?

A Guy
 

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Be sure to check the choice of printer in Word, most programs take the default as set in Settings, Bluetooth and Devices but a different choice can be made in the program.
 

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Berton said:
Be sure to check the choice of printer in Word, most programs take the default as set in Settings, Bluetooth and Devices but a different choice can be made in the program.
Click to expand...
That was the first thing that crossed my mind. We selected two different available printers with the same result.

JohnD
 

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Is the printer set as default printer?
If so, try changing the setting to another choice and then after sometimes revert to the problematic printer
 

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Grammy said:
Is the printer set as default printer?
If so, try changing the setting to another choice and then after sometimes revert to the problematic printer
Click to expand...
Both printers we tried had the same problem. We changed the default to use one or the other. Again Excel documents had no issue with either printer.

JohnD
 

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johnpd said:
Both printers we tried had the same problem. We changed the default to use one or the other. Again Excel documents had no issue with either printer.

JohnD
Click to expand...
I can't replicate the problem -- so I've no idea. I've tried looking in all the EXCEL settings I can find and can't find anything that inhibits printing.

Does the printer work when say printing a web page etc.

The only other thing I can suggest just for a test -- install Windows 11 again from scratch and Office -- no need to activate either just for testing - and see if the printer works from EXCEL. (If you've only got one disk then backup original system first so you can restore after the test).

If you know how to use DISM you could install Windows to an external device for a test too - but that's a bit more complex than a simple system backup and restore.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Might try deleting and reinstalling print driver. I believe word is one of the most intensive programs to print. Easy to try. You might also try removing and rediscovering the printer itself, again easy to try

A Guy
 

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jimbo45 said:
I can't replicate the problem -- so I've no idea. I've tried looking in all the EXCEL settings I can find and can't find anything that inhibits printing.

Does the printer work when say printing a web page etc.

The only other thing I can suggest just for a test -- install Windows 11 again from scratch and Office -- no need to activate either just for testing - and see if the printer works from EXCEL. (If you've only got one disk then backup original system first so you can restore after the test).

If you know how to use DISM you could install Windows to an external device for a test too - but that's a bit more complex than a simple system backup and restore.

Cheers
jimbo
Click to expand...
The problem is with Word not Excel. Excel works fine. We reinstalled Office (Office 2021) and the problem was still there. I don't know if I want to reinstall Windows at this point. I have done this for others. If I did it, I would use the "repair" process from a flash drive.
 

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A Guy said:
Might try deleting and reinstalling print driver. I believe word is one of the most intensive programs to print. Easy to try. You might also try removing and rediscovering the printer itself, again easy to try

A Guy
Click to expand...
We were doing this in our club's computer room. One of the printers we tried is connected to a network. I would not want to mess with that. We installed the drivers for his printer from scratch. We tried printing to his printer using a printer cable and wirelessly with the same results. His printer is a Canon Pixma TR4720. Our network printers are both Brothers (one mono, one color).

JohnD
 

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Very Strange. It's a long shot but I would create a new document using a different font\fonts just to test.
Are these print jobs stuck in the queue or do they just disappear ?
 
Last edited:

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Close word. Set a different default printer (does not matter which one). Open that document and try to print to your normal printer (choose it from the list manually). Does it print?
 

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I suspect the print job isn't being sent to the print queue. If you have access, either create a new user and see if that user can print, or use the built in Admin account

A Guy
 

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    ASUS P7P55D
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    Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600MHz CL8
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    MSI GeForce GT 240 N240GT-MD1G/D5 1 GB DDR5
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    LG 32MA68HY 32" IPS
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    1980x1040
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    Samsung Electronics 840 EVO 120GB, SEAGATE 500GB Barracuda® 7200.12, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
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Is the printer on when you send the document to print?
If not, turn on the printer first and see if that makes a difference.
 

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Each Office Application can be set to print to a different printer all at the same time. Since Excel can print, the problem has to be in the printer settings in Microsoft Word. Check all the printer settings in Word. For example, is Word mistakenly set to print to a file instead of a printer? Carefully check each and every printer setting in Word.
 

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