9 Ways to Fix Microsoft Word Documents Not Printing Correctly

Printing in Word should be seamless, but problems can sometimes occur. Missing text, misaligned margins, or entire pages that don’t print can derail your work. Fortunately, most of these problems have easy solutions.

1

Make sure the Printer is Working

This may seem obvious, but starting your diagnosis correctly is always better. Before diving into any fixes, it’s best to first rule out any problems with your printer. To do that, you can print a test page on your PC using these steps:

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings app.

2. Go to Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.

3. Select the printer you are using and click the button Print test page button

If there is a problem with your printer, refer to our guide on what to do when your printer is not working. However, if the test page prints correctly, continue with the following fixes to resolve the issue.

2

Print other Microsoft Word documents

Sometimes problems with a document can prevent Word from printing properly. Fortunately, Word includes a handy feature that lets you fix your documents with ease.

To use, go to File > Open > Browse and select the Word file that does not print correctly. Then, click on the small arrow next to open button and select Open and repair. Wait for Word to repair and open the file and then try to print again.

Alternatively, you can create a new Word document and copy all the content from the original file into it. If this solves the problem, it means that the printing error was isolated to the original document.

3

Print documents in other formats

This is more than just a solution, but it can be useful if you are in a hurry and do not have time to check what is causing the problem. Save your Word document as a PDF and then print it. PDFs preserve the formatting and layout of your document, ensuring that it will appear exactly as intended when viewed or printed.

To convert a Word file to PDFrush F12 to open the Save as dialogue. In the Save as type drop down menu, select PDF and click save. Your document will be saved as a PDF file and should open automatically once saved. After that, try to print again and see if it works.

4

Check for problems with Windows

Both Windows 10 and 11 include a printer troubleshooting tool that can automatically find and fix common problems. Therefore, it is a good idea to run it if you continue to experience problems with Word prints. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings app.

2. Head to System> Troubleshoot> Other troubleshooters.

3. Click the run button next to the Printer and follow the prompts on the screen.

If the problem persists after running the printer troubleshooter, it could be related to the printer drivers on your PC. You can refer to our guide on troubleshoot printer drivers to restore the functionality of your printer.

5

Scale printing issue

A less common but frustrating printing problem in Word is when pages printed at a fraction of their actual size take up only a small portion of the printed paper. This is often caused by scale factors that are incorrectly set in the print settings. Here’s what you can do to fix this.

1. In Word, press Ctrl + P to open the print page.

2. Click the Proprietary of the printer option under your printer.

3. Under Page Setup tab, tick the Manual scale option and adjust the Scaling to 100%.

4. Click OK to save the changes.

This should cause the pages to print at full size, with the text and any graphics filling the entire page.

6

Check the Hidden text

Microsoft Word offers the option to hide text in a document. This hidden text behaves similarly to formatting marks such as spaces, line breaks, and tab characters—it takes up space on the page but does not appear when printed or viewed on screen. Sometimes, hidden text can be the reason why certain parts of your document are missing from the printout, even if they are visible in the soft copy.

If you suspect that hidden text may be causing your printing problem, here’s how to check and reveal any hidden content in your Microsoft Word document:

1. In Word, go to File > Options.

2. Select the show tab and deselect the Hidden text option.

3. Click OK and print the document again.

7

Check the form data printing options

Another common printing problem in Word occurs when the borders of the table or other elements in your document do not appear in the printed version, even if they are visible on the screen. Here’s how to fix it.

1. In the Word document, go to File > Options.

2. Change to the Advanced tab.

3. Scroll down and uncheck the Print only the data from a form option. Then, click OK.

8

Print directly to the printer

When you print directly to the printer, Word bypasses the print spooler and sends the document directly to the printer. This can help solve problems like printing delaysmissing pages, or incorrect formatting that can occur when the document is first processed by the spooler.

To print directly to the printer in Word:

1. Open the Control panel using the search menu.

2. Click on Devices and Printers.

3. Right click on your printer and select it Proprietary of the printer.

4. Go to the Advanced tab and tick Print directly to the printer option.

5. Click OK.

6. Try printing your Word document one more time.

9

Repair Microsoft Office Suite

If you’ve tried all the fixes above and the problem persists, or if you’re having similar problems with other Office apps, you can try using the Office repair tool. This tool scans all your Office apps, including Word, for potential problems and fixes them automatically. Here’s how to run it.

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.

2. Type appwiz.cpl in the text box and click enter.

3. Come up with Microsoft Office suite, click on the right, and select Change.

4. Select the Online repair option and click Repair.

Wait for the repair tool to run and then try to print from Word again.

When you’ve spent hours working on a document, it can be frustrating when Word fails to print properly. I hope that is no longer the case, and one of the tips above has helped you solve your printing problems in Word.