How to troubleshoot print failures in Word 2007 and Word 2003

This article suggests ways that you can diagnose and resolve issues when Microsoft Office Word does not print your document.

For additional information about Microsoft Office Word 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
The following behaviors are examples of print failure:

• You receive error messages and other messages that when you try to print a file.
• The printer does not respond.
• Files print as meaningless symbols

This article does not discuss printer output issues, such as envelope positioning problems, missing graphics, and inaccurate page numbers.

Note Before you continue, see the "References" section at the end of this article for known Word issues that might match your printer's behavior.

If you do not find a match for your error message or your printer's behavior, follow the steps in this article to troubleshoot your printing problem. To resolve a print failure in Word, you must determine its cause. Causes typically fit one of five categories:

• Damaged documents or damaged content in documents.
• The Word program.
• The printer driver.
• Microsoft Windows.
• Connectivity or hardware.

Do not assume what is causing your printing problem. Instead, rely on systematic troubleshooting to reveal the real cause.

Use the following tests to help determine the type of cause for your printing failure.

Step 1: Test Printing in Other Documents

Damaged documents or documents that contain damaged graphics or damaged fonts can cause print errors in Word. Before you reinstall drivers or software, test the Word program's ability to print. To do this, follow these steps:

Word 2007

1. Open a new blank document in Word.
2. On the first line of the document, type the following text:
   =rand(10)
3. Press ENTER. This inserts 10 paragraphs of sample text.
4. Try to print the document.
5. If the document prints successfully, change to a different font, or insert clip art, a table, or a drawing object.
   
   To change the font, follow these steps:
   1. Use your pointing device to select your sample text.
   2. Click Home.
   3. In the Font list, click to select a different font..
   To insert clip art, follow these steps:
   1. Click the Insert menu, and then click Clip Art.
   2. On the Clip Art task pane, leave the Search text box blank, and then click Search.
   3. Right-click one of the pictures, and then click Insert.
   4. Close the Clip Art task pane.
   To insert a table, follow these steps:
   1. Click Insert, click Table, and then click Insert Table.
   2. Type the number of columns and rows that you want, and then click OK.
   To insert a drawing object, follow these steps:
   1. Click Insert, and then click Shapes.
   2. Double-click one of the shapes.
6. Test the print function again.

Word 2003

1. Open a new blank document in Word.
2. On the first line of the document, type the following text:
   =rand(10)
3. Press ENTER. This inserts 10 paragraphs of sample text.
4. Try to print the document.
5. If the document prints successfully, change to a different font, or insert clip art, a table, or a drawing object.
   
   To change the font, follow these steps:
   1. Use your pointing device to select your sample text.
   2. On the Format menu, click Font.
   3. In the Font list, click to select a different font, and then click OK.
   To insert clip art, follow these steps:
   1. On the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then click Clip Art.
   2. On the Insert Clip Art task pane, leave the Search text box blank, and then click Search.
   3. Right-click one of the pictures, and then click Insert.
   4. Close the Insert Clip Art task pane.
   To insert a table, follow these steps:
   1. On the Table menu, point to Insert, and then click Table.
   2. Click OK.
   To insert a drawing object, follow these steps:
   1. On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Drawing.
   2. On the Drawing toolbar, select one of the drawing shapes.
   3. Click anywhere in the document, drag the mouse pointer, and then release the button.
6. Test the print function again.

The success or failure of these tests shows whether Word can print generally. These tests may also give you clues about certain fonts or graphics that Word cannot print.

If you receive no errors in the test document, but you still cannot print your original document, your original document may be damaged. This may be true even if you can print the same document on another computer because there are many situations where the symptoms of file damage appear on some computers and not on others.

Again, rely on systematic troubleshooting instead of on assumptions about what is causing the problem. Therefore, if you cannot print a particular document, but you can print other documents in Word, you may have a damaged document. Troubleshoot the problem accordingly. For additional information about how to troubleshoot damaged documents, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If Word cannot print at all, or Word cannot print a certain font or a certain type of graphic, go to Step 2.

Step 2: Test Printing in Other Programs

The scope of the printing problem may reveal its cause. For example, some printing problems only affect Word, and other printing problems affect several or all your Microsoft Windows programs.

The following tests can help determine whether this problem involves programs other than Word.

Test in WordPad

1. Click Start, point to Programs (in Microsoft Windows XP, point to All Programs), point to Accessories, and then click WordPad.
2. In the blank WordPad document, type This is a test.
3. On the File menu, click Print.
4. Click OK or Print to print the file.

If you found in Step 1 of this article that the print problem only occurs with certain fonts or certain graphics images, try to reproduce this problem in WordPad. To do this, apply the same font, or insert the same type of graphics image. You select a different font in WordPad the same way as you do in Word.

To insert a graphics image in WordPad, follow these steps:

1. On the Insert menu, click Object.
2. Try one or both of the following steps:
   • To create a new graphics image, click Create New, and then select one of the object types from the list. For example, click Microsoft Clip Gallery to insert clip art, or click Bitmap Image to create a test bitmap in the Microsoft Paint program.
   • To insert a graphics image from a file, click Create from File, and then click Browse to select the file.

After you finish your testing in WordPad, you can test the print functions in your Web browser or your other Office programs. You can also try to print a test page for your printer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
   
   Note In Windows XP, click Start and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the icon for your printer, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, click Print Test Page.

If you cannot print a test page, or if you cannot print in several or all your Windows programs, you have a printer driver problem, a Windows problem, a hardware problem, or a connectivity problem. For additional information about troubleshooting printer problems in Windows, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If the problem is limited to a particular font, a damaged font file may be the cause. For additional information about testing and reinstalling fonts, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If you can print without problems in all your programs except Word, go to Step 3 of this article.

Step 3: Test Printing with Different Printer Drivers

If Word is the only program on your computer that cannot print, you may think that Word is the cause of the problem. Remember that Word is a very printer-intensive program. Therefore, a minor problem with the printer driver affects Word before it affects other programs.

To determine whether the printer driver is the cause of the problem, you can test different drivers. If the Word printing problem occurs only when you print documents with a certain font or a certain type of graphics image, try to print to another printer.

If no other printer is available, contact the manufacturer to find out whether there is an updated version of the driver or a different driver that works with your printer model. See the "References" section later in this article for information about how to contact a third-party vendor.

If the Word printing problem occurs even when you print documents that are made up of only text, you can use a generic, text-only printer driver to test printing from Word. To do this, follow these steps for your version of Windows.

Note On some versions of Windows, these steps may require access to the Windows installation CD-ROM or access to a network drive that contains the Windows installation files.

Microsoft Windows XP

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Click Add a printer under Printer Tasks.
3. Click Next on the first screen of the Add Printer Wizard.
4. Click Local printer attached to this computer, make sure the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer check box is disabled, and then click Next.
5. Click FILE for the port, and then click Next.
6. In the Manufacturers list, click Generic, and then click Next.
7. Click FILE for the port, and then click Next.
8. Click Yes when you are prompted for whether Windows will use the printer as the default, and then click Next.
9. Click No when you are prompted to print a test page, and then click Finish.
10. When the driver installation is complete, open a document in Word, and then click Print on the File menu.
11. When the Print to file dialog box appears, click My Documents for the location of the file, and then type the following file name:
    Test.prn
12. Click OK.

Microsoft Windows 2000

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
2. Double-click the Add Printer icon.
3. Click Next on the first screen of the Add Printer Wizard.
4. Click Local printer, and then click Next.
5. Click FILE for the port, and then click Next.
6. In the Manufacturers list, click Generic.
7. In the Printers list, click Generic/Text Only, and then click Next.
8. Click Yes when you are prompted for whether Windows will use the printer as the default, and then click Next.
9. Click Do not share this printer, and then click Next.
10. Click No when you are prompted to print a test page, and then click Finish.
11. When the driver installation is complete, open a document in Word, and then click Print.
12. When the Print to file dialog box appears, click My Documents for the location of the file, and then type the following file name:
    Test.prn
13. Click OK.

If you receive an error message in Word when you print files that contain only text, but you do not receive the error message when you print with the generic, text-only printer driver, your printer driver may be damaged. In this case, contact the manufacturer for help to remove the printer driver and to installing an updated version. See the "References" section later in this article for information about how to contact a third-party vendor.

If the printing problem occurs with a different printer driver, go to Step 4.

Step 4: Test the Word Program Files and Settings

After you verify that the printing problem is not limited to a particular document or to a particular printer driver, and that the problem is limited to the Word program, test the Word program by starting with only the default settings. For additional information about how to start with the default settings, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If the printing problem continues to occur, run Detect and Repair to reinstall the missing or damaged program files. To run Detect and Repair, follow these steps:

Word 2007

1. Start Word 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.
3. Click Resources, click Diagnose, and then follow the prompts on the screen.

Word 2003

1. On the Help menu in Word, click Detect and Repair.
2. Click Start.
3. Insert the Word CD-ROM or Office CD-ROM if you are prompted to do so, and then click OK.

If the printing problem continues to occur after you repair the Word installation or the Office installation, look for problems in Windows.

Step 5: Test for Problems in Microsoft Windows

To look for device drivers or memory-resident programs that might be interfering with the Word print function, start in Windows Safe mode, and then test printing to a file in Word. To start in Windows Safe mode, follow the steps for your version of Windows.

Windows XP

Note You must be logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group to finish this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

Warning When you follow the steps in this article, you may disable the System Restore Service and may remove any previously created restore points. For additional information about how to use the System Restore utility to restore the computer to an earlier state, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start, click Run, and then type the following command in the Open box:
   msconfig
2. Click OK.
3. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then click to clear all the subsequent check boxes.
   
   Note You cannot click to clear the Use Original BOOT.INI check box.
4. Click OK, and then click Restart to restart your computer.

For additional information about how to perform a clean boot in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Windows 2000

1. Restart the computer.
2. Press F8 when you receive the following message:

   For troubleshooting and advanced startup options for Windows 2000, press F8.

3. On the Windows 2000 Advanced Options menu, click Safe mode, and then press ENTER.
4. After Windows starts in Safe mode, start Word, and then type some text in a new document.
5. On the File menu, click Print.
6. In the Print dialog box, click to select the Print to file check box, and then click OK.
7. When the Print to file dialog box appears, click My Documents for the location of the file, and then type the following file name:
   Test.prn
8. Click OK.

For additional information about Windows 2000 Safe mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If the Word printing problem does not occur when you start Windows in Safe mode, use clean-boot troubleshooting to help determine the source of the problem. For additional information about clean-boot troubleshooting, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For help with printer problems in Windows Vista, visit the following Microsoft web page: