PUB: Troubleshooting Text Printing (Laser Printers) (160769)

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General Troubleshooting

NOTE: To print correctly from Publisher, you must also be able to print correctly from other Windows programs. This article does not contain steps to fix problems printing from Windows in general.

No Text Prints/Text Prints Garbled:

If none of the text in your publication prints, try the following:

1. Copy some or all of the text and paste it into Notepad. If the text won't print from Notepad either, you may be using a Windows printer driver that is corrupt or not correct for the type of printer you have. You may also have a problem with your printer cable, network connection, or with the printer itself.
2. If the text prints from Notepad, copy some or all of the text in your publication and paste it into WordPad or Write. WordPad and Write retain your text's font and size information. If the text won't print from WordPad or Write (but does from Notepad), you may have one or more corrupted fonts on your computer. Try changing the text to a different font and see if it prints. If it does print, remove and reinstall the original font. If it still doesn't print, you may be using a printer driver that doesn't match your actual printer. You could also have a problem with your network connection, printer cable, or printer.
3. If your text prints from WordPad or Write, your publication may contain a corrupt graphic or OLE object. In Publisher, try printing your publication without pictures.
   1. In Publisher 3.0 or 97, click Print on the File menu. Click the Do Not Print Pictures check box and then click OK.
   2. In Publisher 2.0, click Hide Pictures on the Tools menu. On the File menu, click Print.
   If the text prints correctly with the pictures hidden, try removing picture frames and OLE frames until the entire file prints correctly.
4. If you have access to a different type of printer, try printing to that printer instead.

Text Prints in Incorrect Font:

If the text in your publication prints, but in an incorrect font, try using the same font in another publication or in another program. If the font doesn't work there, either, you may have to re-install that particular font.

What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) Problems:

If all your text prints, but the text doesn't look the way it does on screen, see the following article here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Troubleshooting Specific Problems

NOTE: the steps in several of these sections apply to Microsoft Publisher running on Windows 95 or Windows NT Workstation, version 4.0. If you are running a version of Publisher on Windows 3.1 or Windows NT 3.51, the steps may differ slightly.

Text in Columns Doesn't Line Up Correctly:

If you use spaces to separate columns of text, they may appear to be lined up correctly on screen, but print out of alignment.

You can see if you used spaces to separate columns by clicking Show Special Characters on the View menu (in Publisher 7.0 this command is located on the Tools menu.) Spaces show up as dots. You should use tabs instead of spaces to line up columns in a single text frame.

Problems Printing Text on Banners:

If your banner contains letters that split across tile boundaries (half the letter prints on one sheet of paper, the other half prints on another), the second half of the letter does not print. This is because the printer control language used by HP LaserJet and compatible printers does not have a command to start a letter midway through it.

You can resolve this issue by using WordArt frames instead of text frames on banners. You may also be able to resolve this issue by using the Print TrueType as Graphics option in the printer driver.

1. On the File menu, click Print Setup.
2. Click the printer on the Printers list, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Fonts tab.
4. Click the Print TrueType as Graphics button and then click OK.

For more information about this issue, please see the following article here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Problems Printing Gray or Colored Text:

If your publication contains text that is some color besides black, it may print as black on many HP LaserJet and compatible printers. The printer control language used by many of these printers does not contain commands to print text in any color besides black or white.

If you need text to print in a shade of gray, you may wish to create that text using a WordArt frame instead of a text frame.

For additional information about this issue, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Problems Printing White Text:

If your publication contains white text and you print it to an HP LaserJet II or compatible, the white text prints in black. The printer control language used by these printers does not support printing text in any color besides black.

You can get white text to print correctly by using the Print TrueType as Graphics option in the printer driver.

1. On the File menu, click Print Setup.
2. Click the printer on the Printers list and then click Properties.
3. Click the Fonts tab.
4. Click the Print TrueType as Graphics button and then click OK.

Problems Printing Rotated Text:

In some cases text which is rotated (on a different baseline from the rest of your page) may print incorrectly. It may print in a different font or it may print unrotated.

For more information about printing rotated text, please see the following articles here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Additional (Unwanted) Text Prints:

Occasionally text that does not appear on screen does appear on your printout. If you have a text frame that contains overflow text (too much text to fit in the frame), the top line of the overflow text may print at the bottom of your text frame. You can resolve this by using the Design Checker to search for overflow text. If you find overflow text, you can either enlarge your text frame so that you can see all the text, or you can delete the overflow text.

If you cover up some of the text in a text frame with a graphic or another frame, the covered-up text prints anyway. This behavior is caused by the printer control language used by HP LaserJet and compatible printers. You can use the Print TrueType as Graphics option in the printer driver to prevent the text from printing. For more information on this issue, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.