Outlook-How to print 1 page only (or several non-sequential pgs) .

F

falco

In MS Outlook 2002: Can you tell me if there is a way to print one page only
(or several non-sequential pages that are not all odd or even but a mixture,
say pages 1,4 and 7) of a multipage e-mail message?

I've encountered this problem before and found the following "solution":
only a "work around" the problem by copying & pasting the desired portions of
the email into e.g. WordPad and then printing from there.

Surely this "work around" is not the 'proper' way? Am I to understand that
MS Outlook designers did not anticipate such an obvious problem? If so,
that's absolutely astounding!

Another cumbersome "work around" is to place one page only in one's printer
so it can print on that one page only; but this works, of course, only if it
is page no. 1 that one wants to print. I cannot command it to print, say page
no.2 only and ignore page one and the rest.

Thank you.
 
I

IanRoy

Hi, falco;
You have the option to choose which page to print if the e-mail is in HTML
format. Unfortunately you lose Print Preview, so in that case you would want
to print selection. To convert a received plain text e-mail to HTML, open the
message and choose Edit> Edit Message, followed by Format> HTML. Then select
the portion you want to print followed by File> Print> General> Selection>
Print.
Regards,
Ian.
 
B

BillR [MVP]

What format of emails do you intend to Print? It varies with format. You can
look for yourself and see what options you have. I think with html you can
print certain pages. With plain text you can always edit the message to html
(edit | Edit Message then Format | html) and print as html.
Note to print from File | Print in an *open* html email.
 
F

falco

Thank you IanRoy your reply is very helpful. For printing purposes, I wasn't
aware of the distinction between plain text and HTML and how they had to be
treated differently.

falco
 
F

falco

BillR, thank you for your assistance it is very helpful. For printing
purposes, I wasn't aware of the distinction between plain text and HTML and
how they had to be treated differently. On reading your and IanRoy's replies
it occurs to me that I ought to have just edited the message by deleting the
4 (in this case) of the 5 pages that I did not want to print leaving the one
that I did want.

Thanks again.

falco
 
G

GeorgeW6

Hello, A year or so later. I just had the same problems and could not find
the answer in HELP or by experimenting. Finding it here was a good deal and
great help. I did as the instructions said, and printed out less (21 pages
instead of 63 or 91). I was lazy and did not want to make selection after
selection or figure out pages.

However, this was cumbersome and I am wondering if Microsoft has any
intention of improving the software to make printing of text easier, as it is
in the HTML format? If any MVP knows, I would like to know, just out of
curiosity. So many "improvements in versions are not worth much, but this
would help, I feel. I have the latest Office, which is 2003(?) Whatever
came out last year. I do not know if it changed Outlook.
George
 
B

Ben Feese

Yes, it is now a "year later" and although finding this workaround was a
great help, it is evident that Microsoft has taken no steps to remedy this
obvious flaw in Outlook. Like you, I am running Outlook 2003. What always
amazes me is that a program like Outlook is created with more and more "bells
and whistles" , many of which have no obvious utility, with each subsequent
version, yet really obvious, practical flaws seem never to be addressed, and
in fact, "improved" versions often drop features that were much prized in
older, now "obsolete" versions. My explanation? In every organization,
including M$, bright young people know their future depends upon coming up
with more and more "new" ideas, "new" buzzwords, etc. NEW is what sells ---
"good as eve", alas!, does not.

BTW, I have found no more elegant a solution to the problem of printing
mutiple, randomly placed portions of emails (in HTML format) than your
"edit|select all|de-select desired passages|delete still selected
portions|print remainder|do not save carved up remainder". If you are
dealing with plain text, you will have to paste to a word processing program
before printing.

Am I an old fogey or a new "informed" consumer?

Ben
 
L

lmannelli

I am a project tracker for the government and have to print out hundreds of
hard copy responses from emails all day long. I go through 5 reams of paper
a day because I do not have time to do any of the fancy
edit-format-html-print-seclect-page-pressprintagain steps that are the
apparent "best fixes" for such a standardized command in the histories of
office automation. I even tried to create a macro button to perform the
"edit-format-html-print-select-page-pressprintagain" steps which didn't work.
My time constraints keep me pressing the printer icon over and over again.
Sorry but no time for shortcuts. I have come back to this spot over and over
again for 2 years to see if any better solutions have been posted or to see
if any new versions have come out. Has microsoft outlook even taken notice
of this problem. Who Knows? Can someone tell me if the future looks bleak or
bright on this issue. Today I will use 2000 sheets of paper and throw away
approximately 1300 of them due to this problem. You are right! This is
definitely unacceptable. And if it is ever fixed....I will probably get a pay
increase and/or promotion for being able to save money, supplies, time and of
course......personal frustration. OH YEA.....I also have to SHRED all of
the useless paper at the end of the day.
 
J

jacomet

Hi Ian Roy/Falco:

Below solution does not work in Outlook 2007 on Vista. There is up to now no
solution on how to print a chosen selection of pages. only even odd numbers.
It is a tremendous waste of paper!! Microsoft should URGENLTY take up the
matter with a patch!!!! Anyone else who has a solution would be much
appreciated.
thank you.
 
B

BillR

With Outlook 2007 choose View in Browser from Other Actions in the Actions
chunk in the Message Ribbon. You can then print from IE.
 
G

Gordon

jacomet said:
Hi Ian Roy/Falco:

Below solution does not work in Outlook 2007 on Vista. There is up to now
no
solution on how to print a chosen selection of pages. only even odd
numbers.
It is a tremendous waste of paper!! Microsoft should URGENLTY take up the
matter with a patch!!!! Anyone else who has a solution would be much
appreciated.
Click to expand...


perhaps MS shares my opinion (as a Systems and Management accountant) that
99% of email printing is completely unnecessary....
 
B

Ben Feese

THINK what you are saying: "Big Brother (MS) knows best: Because you
*shouldn't* be doing something (like overusing your own paper...maybe) , we
are going to make it difficult (or impossible) for you to do it." This is
paternalism at its most subtle, and thus at its worst!

I am sorry. I can think of NO good reason (in terms of the usefulness of
the product) for this feature to have been dropped, or discouraged.

Actually, the obvious fact is that discouraging/preventing selective
printing will *increase*, not decrease, paper use!
 
G

Gordon

Ben Feese said:
THINK what you are saying: "Big Brother (MS) knows best: Because you
*shouldn't* be doing something (like overusing your own paper...maybe) ,
we
are going to make it difficult (or impossible) for you to do it." This is
paternalism at its most subtle, and thus at its worst!

I am sorry. I can think of NO good reason (in terms of the usefulness of
the product) for this feature to have been dropped, or discouraged.
Click to expand...

And I can think of NO good reason to print emails AT ALL, unless you need to
give a copy to a third party who is not on email...
 
B

Ben Feese

And that is *precisely* the reason I wanted to print out a portion of the
email: there were (major) sections of the email which I did not want to share
with a recipient to whom I was giving a copy.

In "fairness" to MS, I doubt that the paper-saving motive which you offered
would apply to MS, but rather to the presumed employer of the user. This is
a presumption, especially on the part of MS, which I find both maddening and
unwarranted. Many of the users of this and other MS products are private
individuals, not corporate employess, and it is their *own* money which is
being expended, both for the purchase of paper and for the purchase of the
proram itself.

No, I think a far more credible explanation for this "feature" is the one I
offered
in the observation/complaint with which I started this thread: it is the
(often not thoroughly and critically examined) creation of development team
members who, for their very employment security, are required to continually
be coming up with "new and better" (with emphasis on *new*) versions of what
may already be a well-accepted product. Theoretically, defective creations
will ultimately be revised or eliminated by the process of critical user
feedback. The practical problems are (1) the feedback is typically slow and
inefficient, because successive versions are usually well invested, both with
dollars and political prestige within the organization, before customer
feedback becomes sufficent in volume to be statistically compelling. And
(2), operationally, in the chain of command in an organization it is far more
important to impress one's immediate superior than it is to serve well some
prospective user.

Again, in fairness to MS, this response defect is common to most large
organizations (in contrast to start-up companies) whose survival depends upon
forever blitzing current customers with reasons for "upgrading".
 
B

BillR

It isn't as easy as you think. Outlook 2007 uses a stub of Word 2007 for
email. Word 2007 doesn't support that feature (it should). If you open html
messages in the Browser as I have suggested you get one step up on Word and
can print a selection.
 
J

jacomet

SOLUTION to printing selective pages:
I have outlook 2007 on Vista and it was not allowing to print selective
pages, e.g. page 1 - 4. only odd and even. (regardless if it is in HTML
format or any other format).

Open email. CLick on OTHER OPTIONS. Click on EDIT MESSAGE. Then delete
the pages in the email you do not want to print. Click on print all. When
closing the email you are prompted to save changes click no.

At least this saves some paper! Although it is not ideal! Hope it helps.
 
S

Sophia

Gordon said:
perhaps MS shares my opinion (as a Systems and Management accountant) that
99% of email printing is completely unnecessary....
Click to expand...

Right, so because as a Systems and Management accountant you do not need to
print e-mails, you assume that the rest of the worlds does not need to
either. Some of us still use paper files. As such, at my job, printing
e-mails is crucial for liability and confidentiality reasons. If your company
is lucky enough to have the resources and manpower to move to completely
digitized files, more power to you.

But this is a forum for people that are looking for office solutions. We're
looking for a troubleshoot solution, not advice on how to modernize our
business. As such, let me add that the best solution to printed selections
pages in Outlook 2007 is Other Actions>Open with Browser.
 
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