Word XP & printer selection problems

[Wizdar]

In Word XP, when a printer is selected, all the currently-open documents decide to use that printer regardless of previous settings or the default printer. (This does not happen in Excel XP.)

Our IT department has recently updated all our computers to the latest, and it seems to me that before the update, if you close all open Word documents it will revert to the default printer, but I could be wrong. This is certainly not the case now.

Is there any way to stop this across-the-board printer change and last used printer maddness? I've even deleted a printer, and Word still prints to it!

 

[Dreamboat]

While I cannot intelligently answer that question...

When I worked with several printers, I recorded macros that changed the current printer for Word, and I put toolbar buttons right up next to my Print button so that I'd easily remember to change the printer to the appropriate one before hitting print.

Anne Troy

http://www.VBAExpress.com

 

[Wizdar]

Interesting suggestion, Anne. I occasionally have problems with 11x17 spreadsheets in Excel, since my default printer doesn’t do tabloid paper.

I’ve managed to track it down to SP2, which was recently installed. We reverted another computer to SP1 and all is well.

There seem to be a few changes with SP2 that suk. The printer issue is one. Another is, the task PAIN remains open when selecting a new document from the template list, even though “Show Startup Task Pane” is turned off.

I didn’t know Word was broke. Why did Bill fix it?

 

[Dreamboat]

Yes. Very interesting. I wrote a book due out late this year called "Dreamboat on Word". Here's a paragraph from it that should make you laugh:

"I am of the opinion that some of the features introduced with Office 2002/XP are a waste of time; there are many other features they could have provided. I don’t like the Task Panes or the Smart Tags, they just fill up my work area. I want the old Mail Merge Wizard back so much so that I’m planning to create an add-in that will emulate it."

Anyway, you can ask someone to write a small piece of code that opens the General templates folder with the click of a button. You could then replace the (File-)New menu option with a new one that runs that macro.



Anne Troy

http://www.VBAExpress.com