Why do my Office programs take for ever to print?

[JMoss]

I'm experiencing excessive delays in the execution of print commands from MS
Office programs, ex.: 20 minutes to print a Word file of 480k size and about
as long for an Excel file of size 385k.??!!
All other applications print virtually instantly.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

What versions of Office and Windows are you using?

In Word, at least, you can speed up printing if you turn off Background
printing. In Word 2003, Tools - Options - Print tab, remove the check next
to Background printing. In Word 2007, it's in Office - Word Options -
Advanced tab, Print section.

 

[JMoss]

Thanks Her. I have Office 2007 and background printing is UNchecked. I was
having this same proble with office 2000 and that's the main reason I
upgraded.
If you have any other ideas I'd like to hear them.
Thanks again.
Jerry

 

[JMoss]

OH, sorry Herb, I'm running Winows XP sp2 Media Edition.
Jerry

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

what is the performance
for printing if you log into
safemode?

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Is this to a local printer, or to a network printer? What printer is it?

Office often uses printers differently from other Windows programs. In many
cases, improved performance is provided through updated drivers. Have you
checked the printer manufacturer's site for an updated printer driver?

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[JMoss]

It's a local printer, HP photosmart p1100. No I haven't checked with HP yet
but I will be.
Thanks agai!
Jerry

 

[JMoss]

Haven't tried that yet but I will.
Thanks!

what is the performance
for printing if you log into
safemode?

--




..

 

[ANONYMOUS]

Could it be that you are printing graphics and that your printer hasn't
got enough memory to process the job? I am just guessing because I have
a pdf file (all graphics) and it takes upto one hour to print whether it
is on a network printer or even a local printer. Plain text documents
are pretty instant!

 

[JMoss]

Thanks, but no graphics involved. In word it's straight forward word
processing, text only stuff. In Excel is straight forward data files, names,
addresses, etc.
In each case these are several pages in length and as such I expect them to
be a bit slower but with my printer set for spoolindg I would expect the
first pages of the files to start printing while the remaining pages are
still loading.
Thanks again!

 

[ANONYMOUS]

OK try these solutions from HP:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=us&dlc=en&product=58158&rule=9225&lang=en

Let us know if any of them worked.

Hope this helps.

 

[JMoss]

Thanks again, it may be a day or two before I can run through all of these
but if I have any luck I'll be sure to let you all know.
Thanks!
Jerry

 

[JMoss]

OK, tried all those as well as a number of tricks the guys at HP suggested
and the problem is still there. HP has decided it's a Microsoft problem but
as yet I've had no luck locating a patch/fix there.
Thanks again
Jerry

 

[JMoss]

Here's a point I overlooked earlier. When I'm working from MS Publisher even
VERY LARGE image files print instantly!!??

 

[ANONYMOUS]

One more thought. Is the page setup correct? Size Letter in the US is
not the same as A4 in UK!. I have instances where when we print using
size Letter (instead of A4), the printer does get slower. We get many
US students on an exchange visit and their systems are configured to
print on Letter while all our systems are supposed to print on A4 and
our printers are also configured as such.

Hope this helps.

 

[JMoss]

Yes, I have the default set to Letter-8.5x11.
Thanks again!
Jerry

 

[JMoss]

Many thanks to all of you who offered help with my printing problems. At
long last I've uncovered the source of the problem, my computer! The tech.
guys at Gateway have confirmed for me that one of the files within the hard
drive has become corrupt. After trying all the preferred solutions for this
problem they, Gateway, have concluded my only resort is a Full System Restore
(Destructive) Using Gateway System Recovery Windows XP Hard Drive.
While this certainly isn’t our preferred solution it seems the only option
left.
One of the “clinchers†for me was connecting my printer to another computer
using the same version of MS Office and seeing the files print perfectly. By
the way, one of the first tests both Gateway and HP suggested was a
re-install of MS Office, but that did not work.
My hat is off to the tech guys at both HP & Gateway, they really hung with
me on this and the warranty was long gone on both the computer and printer.
On the other hand, Microsoft wanted me to use their PAID tech support to
check out a BRAND NEW program!!
Again, thanks for hanging with me and doing so much to try to help!
Jerry

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Good luck. What I don't quite grasp is why you need to do a full system
restore if "one of the files" is corrupt. If they can say that for certain,
why not replace just that file?

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

if there is a physical hardware problem
involved which is impeding the connection to
the printer, then fiddling around with
the software won't fix the problem.

for instance if the printer tests ok
on other systems isn't definitive because
you would then have to use the same
logic in reverse and see if a printer from another
system works on yours.

i did suggest to see the status
in safemode. but i guess that
the techs took you through the
process of elimination.....

in anycase
good luck and keep us posted...!

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[JMoss]

Well Herb, to be honest that thought occured to me as well. BUT, I'm not an
ACE with computers and after more than a month of dealing with the problem
I'm willing to try anything. I've already spent more time on this than I have
to spare.
I will be sure to let everyone know if, in fact, this clears the problem.
Thanks again!
Jerry