Printing to a secondary printer

Bob sends in the following question by email concerning printing with Word 2007:

I have a networked Ricoh printer that is my default printer. I have an HP laser attached to my workstation.

I use the HP to print envelopes. How do I print an envelope to the HP without resetting default printer?

Thanks for the question, Bob.

When two or more printers are available to your computer — either directly connected to the computer, or over a home or office network — one printer is the primary (default) and the others are secondary. In Bob’s case the Ricoh printer on his network is his primary (default) printer, and he has a Hewlett Packard (HP) attached to the computer which is his secondary printer.

First, I’ll assume you’re using the envelope setup technique I discussed in my post Setting Up Envelopes in Word 2007. (If you’re using the Envelopes tool on the Mailings tab, I’ll discuss that later in this post).

Simply put, when you’re ready to print the envelope, use the CTRL + P technique I mentioned in that earlier post, but before clicking the OK button — or hitting ENTER — to print, look at the upper left of the Print dialog box onscreen, and click the dropdown button for “Name” to select your secondary —in your case, the HP— printer. (See the picture below; I’ve circled the dropdown button.) Then click the OK button.

Word 2007 Print dialog box

Alternate Method: The Envelopes tool

If you’re using the “Envelopes” tool on the “Mailings” tab of Word 2007, it’s little more involved, in my opinion, which is why I don’t use this alternate method.

Word 2007 Mailings tab and Envelopes tool

The Envelopes tool has no option to change the default printer. Before starting to use the Envelopes tool you have change the printer by using CTRL + P and following the instructions above for changing the printer Name. Then click the “Close” button next to the OK button.

Now you can click the Mailings tab, and use the Envelopes tool to setup and print your envelopes.

You can repeat the change printer name process to revert back to your primary (default) printer. Alternately, if you close and restart Word 2007, it will revert back to your default printer automatically.

Don’t like to use CTRL+P?

In Word 2007 you can click the Office button in the top left of the screen, then point at “Print” and then click “Print” in the submenu to reveal the Print dialog box. To use your default printer or the last used printer, just click “Quick Print” on the submenu.

If you’re using Word 2003 or Word XP (2002), use the “File” menu instead of the Office button, and click “Print” to access the Print dialog box.

Thanks, again, Bob for your question.

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Setting Up Envelopes with Word 2007

Gary from Bayshore, Long Island writes in:

I upgraded to Microsoft Word 2007 last month, and the new design has confused me. All the menus have changed, and now I can’t find page setup to create an envelope. Help! Are you familiar with Word 2007?

Word 2007 icon

Thanks for writing, Gary. I’ve had Word 2007 since March 2007, just three months after its retail release in January 2007, and I know what you mean about the “new look”. I was confused, too, and I actually hated it for a couple of months, but I eventually caught on.

The new design of the Office 2007 products (Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook, etc.) was intended to reveal useful features that were “buried” in previous versions. The toolbars are replaced with “the ribbon”. The “menus” are replaced by “tabs”.  As you click the labeled tabs, the ribbon buttons change. So a task that may have required 4 or 5 clicks to get to, can now be accessed in 1 or 2 clicks.

As for your question on setting up envelopes. Just as before there are two ways to setup an envelope. You can use either the “Envelopes tool” which is useful for printing a single envelope. Or you can use “Page Setup” which is useful for printing more than one envelope. I’m with you, Gary, I prefer using Page Setup, too, even though it can be a bit more complicated, but once you know how to do it, it’s easy enough.

The page setup routine of prior versions has changed in Word 2007, but it’s so much easier once you figure it out.  Here’s what to do:

1. Start Word 2007 (of course).
2. Click the “Page Layout” tab. On the ribbon:
   1. Click “Size” and “Envelope 10″ (or another size if needed)
   2. Click “Orientation”, then “Landscape”
   3. Click “Margins”, then “Narrow”
3. Click the “View” tab. On the ribbon click “Print Layout” and “One Page”.

Word 2007 & envelope

And that’s it!  You should be able to type up your envelope from there in the usual way.

Once you setup your envelope, you can save it for later use, and you can quickly print it out by using the combination CTRL + P on your keyboard.

Thanks again for your question, Gary.

If anyone has a question, please email them to me using the Contact link, or, if it relates to today’s question, please use the Comment and Question link below. I’m looking forward to answering your questions.

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Why are blank pages printing with Word?

Babs, a guest reader from Long Island, NY emailed me yesterday morning:

Robert:

A former student of yours in NYC told me to contact you. Sometimes when I print a one page letter on Word I get a blank second page too. Can you help?

Babs

After writing to Babs, I learned that she was an experienced typist who had spent as much time on typewriters as she had on word processors like Word.

In my teaching experience, I have seen many people who are accustomed to using typewriters —however long ago that may have been— have a habit of hitting the “Enter” key several times when they finish typing a letter. Typewriter users would often do this to eject the paper sheet from the typewriter.

On a word processor this often results in the cursor going onto a second page. A glance at the status bar in the lower left hand corner of the monitor will show the ‘typing cursor location’ and ‘page count’ (shown in picture at right). The message “Page 2 of 2″ means that the cursor is on the second page of a two page document. Even though there is nothing typed on the second page the printer will load and eject a second blank page.

Okay, but how do I fix this?

You just need to move your typing cursor to the end of the document and tap the ‘Delete’ key several times until the cursor appears at the end of the last word in your document.

A quick way to get to the end of a document is to use CTRL + End. (Hold the ‘CTRL’ key with one hand, and tap the ‘End’ key with your other hand). The cursor will move to the end of the document.

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