It can be frustrating to have your document all ready to go but when you try to print you're not able to. In this article we'll walk you through a few steps you can try to get printing from Microsoft Office for Mac working again.

Making Changes to Printer Settings Making the print quality setting Duplex printing. Text/Graph Suitable for printing documents that include text and graphs, such as presentation documents. Clear this check box if graphics do not print correctly. I have not changed my printer settings that I know of, nor have I updated any drivers since I was previously able to print images successfully. I am running Mac OS X version 10.6.8 with Word 2008 12.3.5. In a document with several bits of framed text and a picture (OK, its a business card.) I can't discover why the text prints and the picture doesn't. I have made sure that Graphics is selected in Printer Setup>Options, as is Picture>Options>Properties>Print for the picture.
I am at a loss. I have an iMac with 10.6 snow leopard installed. All was well and then my HP 109 printer just won't print text in black. I have replaced all ink (though they were all full) and since I just decided it was a printer issue I just purchased another printer Canon MG5170 brand new and having the same issue only with black text. OS VISTA OO 3.1.1 After Inserting a.jpg Picture in Writer 1. It does not show up on Preview 2. Therefore does not print out What needs to be done to have a.jpg print out?

In this article I'm going to assume that you've already checked a few of the obvious things such as:

  • Is the printer turned on?
  • Is there paper, ink and/or toner in the printer?
  • All cables to the printer and the computer are securely connected?
Note: If your printer is displaying an error message please contact the manufacturer of the printer for support of that specific error message.

This article is for troubleshooting when you can't get your document to print at all. If you have questions about how to print a document in Office for Mac or how to do special things like print on both sides of the page (duplex) see Print a document in Word for Mac.

Make sure you have all Apple software updates installed

The first thing to do in troubleshooting print issues is to make sure you have all of your Apple software updates installed. To do that: click the Apple button at the top left corner and choose Software Update. Walk through the Software Update wizard and have it download and install any updates that it finds.

Once the updates are complete, reboot your computer then try your print job again. If it still won't print your printer may be paused or another print job may be holding up the queue.

Make sure your printer isn't paused

  1. Click the printer's icon in the Dock to open the printer's queue window .
  2. If you see the Resume button in the toolbar that suggests that the printer is paused. Click the Resume button and see if printing proceeds.

If the printer isn't paused, but print jobs are stacking up anyhow, it's possible that another print job is holding up the queue because of an error with that job. To clear that job select it, then click the Delete Job button on the right .

Test printing in a new document

It's possible that the problem is in your document, so let's try printing from a different document to test that idea.

  1. Create a new file in the Office program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.) that you're having trouble printing from. To do that click File > New
  2. Type a few words of random text
  3. Try to print the document

If it prints successfully that tells us that the problem is in your existing document. See Troubleshoot damaged documents in Word for Mac.

If it doesn't print successfully try changing the font of your text by selecting your sample text, choosing the Font drop down on the ribbon, and selecting a different font. Try printing again. If it prints successfully that tells us the problem is with the font you're using. The easiest solution is to use a different font for your text.

Try printing from another program

To test whether another program can communicate with the printer, and whether the printer driver is functioning, try to print from another program such as Notes. Start the Notes app on your Mac, open an existing note or create a new note with some sample text, then click File> Print and see if it will print.

Text

If it prints successfully from Notes that tell us that you have a problem with your installation of Microsoft Office. In that case you may need to uninstall Office 2016 from your Mac and then reinstall it. See Troubleshoot Office 2016 for Mac issues by completely uninstalling before you reinstall.

If it does not print successfully from other programs that suggests there may be a problem with the printer drivers or configuration.

Delete the printer and reinstall it in OSX

To delete and add the printer, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Apple logo in the upper-left of the screen
  2. Click System Preferences
  3. Click Printers & Scanners
  4. Select the printer that you want to remove
  5. Click Delete (-)
  6. To add a new printer and test it, Click Add (+)
  7. In the Connection Method list, click the connection method that your printer uses
  8. In the Printer list, click the printer that you want to add, and then click Add

Go back to your Microsoft Office application and try printing to the printer you just re-added. If it still won't print, it may be that you need to replace your print driver files.

Remove and reinstall your print driver files

Deleting and reinstalling your printer resets that printer's settings but may not always replace the print driver files. Follow these steps to replace those:

  1. Click the Apple logo in the upper-left of the screen
  2. Choose System Preferences
  3. Choose Printers & Scanners
  4. Control+Click anywhere in the device list. Choose Reset printing system from the shortcut menu.
  5. In Finder choose Go > Go to Folder and go to the /Library/Printers/ folder.
  6. In the Printers folder that appears click Edit > Select All then choose File > New folder with Selection to create a new folder containing those drivers. The folder will be named 'New Folder With Items' by default, which is fine for our purposes. When we're done you can delete that folder to save space.
  7. Repeat the process you did for deleting and reinstalling the printer. This time your system will download and install new printer drivers too.

Go back to Office and test your printing again. If it still doesn't work your printer preference files might be causing the problem.

Replace the printer preference files

Corrupted printer preference files may cause printing issues. To replace the printer preference files, follow these steps:

  1. On the desktop, click File, click New Folder, type Print Prefs, and then press RETURN on your keyboard
  2. On the Go menu, click Home
  3. Open Library
    Note: The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu
  4. Click Preferences
  5. Hold down the Apple or Command key, and then click each com.apple.print.*.plist file. For example, hold down the Apple key, click com.apple.print.PrintCenter.plist, and then click com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist. In this example, the com.apple.print.PrintCenter.plist and com.apple.print.PrintingPrefs.plist files should be highlighted
  6. Drag the files that you highlighted in step 5 to the Print Prefs folder that you created in step 1.
  7. Restart your Mac

Try printing again from Microsoft Office for Mac.

See also

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Summary

This article suggests ways in which you can diagnose and resolve issues when you cannot print a Microsoft Word document.

More Information

For more information about printing problems in Word, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
826862 How to troubleshoot printing problems in Word

Graphics Print But Text Does Not Print In Office For Mac 2011

Examples of print failure are as follows:
Note
Before you continue, see the 'References' section for known issues in Word 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 into one of the following categories:
Do not make assumptions about what is causing your printing problem. Instead, rely on systematic troubleshooting to reveal the cause.
Use the following tests to help determine the cause of 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 2013, Word 2010, and 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 tab, and then click Clip Art. (In Word 2013, click the Insert tab, and then click Online Pictures.)
    2. On the Clip Art task pane, leave the Search text box blank, and then click Go. (In Word 2013, type a term in the Office.com Clip Art search box, 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 do not receive errors in the test document but 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 in which the symptoms of file damage appear on some computers and not on other computers.
Again, rely on systematic troubleshooting instead of on assumptions about what is causing the problem. Therefore, if you cannot print a particular document but can print other documents in Word, you may have a damaged document. Troubleshoot the problem accordingly. For more information about how to troubleshoot damaged Word documents, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
826864 How to troubleshoot damaged Word documents
If Word cannot print at all, or if Word cannot print a certain font or a certain kind of graphic, go to 'Step 2: Test Printing in Other Programs.'

Step 2: Test printing in other programs

Graphics Print But Text Does Not Print In Office For Mac

The scope of the printing problem may reveal its cause. For example, some printing problems affect only Word, whereas other printing problems affect several of or all Windows-based 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 Windows XP, point to All Programs), point to Accessories, and then clickWordPad. (In Windows 8, press the Windows key to go to the Start Screen, type WordPad, and then click the icon.)
  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: Test printing in other documents' that the print problem occurs only 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 kind of graphics image. (To select a different font in WordPad, use the same method that you use in Word.)
To insert a graphics image in WordPad, follow these steps:
  1. On the Insert menu, click Object.
    Note In Windows 8 and Windows 7, click Insert Object on the Home tab.
  2. Follow one or both of the following steps:
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 print a text page, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
    Notes
  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 Windows-based programs, you have a printer driver problem, a Windows problem, a hardware problem, or a connectivity problem.
If the problem is limited to a particular font, a damaged font file may be the cause. For more information about how to test and reinstall fonts, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314960 How to install or remove a font in Windows
If you can print without problems in all programs except Word, go to 'Step 3: Test printing with different printer drivers.'
You may be able to use Windows printing help and troubleshooters to resolve the printing problem.

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. Be aware 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 that use a certain font or a certain kind of graphics image, try to print to another printer.
If no other printer is available, contact the manufacturer to determine whether there is an updated version of the driver or a different driver that works with your printer model. See the 'References' section 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 only of 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. https://sureheavenly.weebly.com/search-for-text-in-files-mac-command-line.html.
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.

Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista

  1. Take one of the following actions, as appropriate for your situation:
  2. Click Add a printer.
  3. Click Add a local printer on the first screen of the Add Printer Wizard.
  4. Make sure that the Use an existing port check box is selected, change the dropdown option to File: (Print to file), and then click Next.
  5. In the Manufacturers list, click Generic, and then click Next.
  6. Leave the default printer name, click Next, and then click Finish.
  7. When the driver installation is complete, open a document in Word, and then do the following, as appropriate for your situation:
  8. Do the following, as appropriate for your situation:
  9. Change the location to My Document, and then name the file Test.prn.
  10. Click OK.

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 that the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer check box is cleared, 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 Filemenu.
  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.

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 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 in removing the printer driver and installing an updated version. See the 'References' section for information about how to contact a third-party vendor.
If the printing problem occurs with a different printer driver, go to 'Step 4: Test the Word program files and settings.'

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 by using only the default settings.
For more information about how to start by using the default settings, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Baseļ¼š
921541 How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you start or use Word
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 2013 and Word 2010

  1. Exit all Office programs.
  2. Use one of the following procedures, depending on your version of Windows:
  3. Open Add or Remove Programs.
  4. Click Change or Remove Programs, click Microsoft Office (Microsoft Office Word) or the version of Office or Word that you have in the Currently installed programs list, and then click Change.
  5. Click Repair or Repair Word (Repair Office), and then click **Continue **or Next.

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, 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 Windows

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

Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista

  1. Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
  2. Click Start, click the arrow next to the Lock button, and then click Restart.
Note In Windows 8, click Settings from the Charms menu, click Power, and then click Restart.
3. Press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts.
Note You have to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you must try to restart your computer. To do this, wait until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shut down and restart your computer.
4. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to select the Safe Mode option, and then press ENTER.
5. Log on to your computer by using a user account that has administrative credentials.

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 more 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:
306084 How to restore Windows XP to a previous state
  1. Notepad for mac text editor. 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 successive 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 more information about how to perform a clean restart in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
310353 How to configure Windows XP to start in a 'clean boot' state

Windows 2000

  1. Restart the computer.
  2. Press F8 when you receive the following message:
  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.
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. Text wrapping in word.