Microsoft Outlook is a great amenity to its users which includes many needful features that easy the digital work. It includes a Print feature for Outlook emails which having connection with a supported Printer device can easily print the emails residing in it. In Outlook, users just need to select the emails, go to File > Print option to print those emails.
However, MS Outlook printing problems or issues in almost each version randomly. Some issues related to this Print function in Outlook are:
- “Printer is unavailable”
- “Printer is not ready”
- “Print Pictures Error”
- “Problem with the selected printer”
- “Improper printing of emails”
- “Header information not included in print”
These issues simply annoy the user when he is involved in some tight and important schedule or work. Unable to take out the prints at that time seems quite frustrating and worthless but do not worry.
In this article, we would suggest you some quick manual tricks to fix Outlook printing issue. As we have mentioned earlier, for different versions of Outlook, Outlook printing problem is different along with their causes.
Note: Some Outlook users are able to print only the first page or selected ones only of their emails rather than all which seems troublesome. It is inferred that the common reason for this situation is that the Outlook printing engine cannot support page selections at all.
OUTLOOK PRINTING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
With some common fixes such as performing the latest available update on the Outlook version, turning off firewall and security applications temporarily, creating a new Outlook profile, set up a new connection with Printer, etc., we are going to categorize then in 3 divided set of versions and discuss the issues with causes and then head upon their solutions.
Outlook 2013, 2016 And 2019
Issue – The main issue that users are facing in the recent versions of Outlook is when they try to print any selected email, the Outlook throws an error “Printer is not ready” or “Cannot print unless an item is selected. Select an item, and then try to print again.” which ultimately halts the print action.
Cause – The supposed reasons behind this issue could be improper connection with printer, network issue, corrupted OutlPrnt file, interruption due to active Add-ins or any issue in Print spooling service in Outlook.
Solution – Here are provided some quick tricks that you can try to fix Outlook Printing Problems.
- Solution 1. Renaming Outlprnt File: You can resolve the issue by rebuilding the OutlPrnt file which holds the Outlook printing style settings as the older one may get corrupted. Perform these steps.
- Close the running Outlook application.
- Find the OutlPrnt file either using the search option or following the path
“%appdata%\Microsoft\Outlook”
- Double click on it and rename it with some other name like OutlPrnt1.
- Now, run the Outlook application again and see if it is printing normally.
- Solution 2. Checking Add-Ins: Users can check on active Add-Ins, disable them one-by-one and restart the Outlook application. Check after which Add-In disable, the Outlook Printing problem is resolved.
To locate the Add-Ins page, go to File>Options>Add-Ins. Then click on Go against Manage COM Add-ins option. Select the suspected Add-ins and disable them using the Disable option. Restart the Outlook application and use Print option to print the emails now.
Note: Outlook must be run in safe mode. For that, press Windows and R keys together, type “outlook /safe” in the opened Windows run box and click on OK.
- Solution 3. Running Printing Troubleshooting Tool: Users can try to fix Outlook printing issue through the troubleshooting tool. Let us see how.
- Check for network connections and that printer has no issues.
- Download the free printing troubleshooting tool online and install it.
- Run this installed tool and fix the issue.
- Check in Outlook if the issue is resolved.
- Solution 4. Restarting Print Spooler service: It is a system service whose function is to manage the printing services. By restarting it again, the problem could be resolved.
Primary Steps: First ensure that the Printer is not offline and is connected well to your system. Get it connected with a Wi-Fi connection. Turn off Printer power for about 30 seconds and then turn it ON. Now move to Settings>Devices>Printers and Scanners. Select the printer’s name and click on Open Queue option. Go to the Printer section and select Set As Default Printer option. Now the printer is set as default, users can also check for the documents in queue by selecting each name and clicking Cancel within the Open Queue section.
Next, follow these instructions.
- Type Services in the Windows run dialog box and it will open the Windows Services page.
- Find Print Spooler service within the list, double click on it and select Stop.
- Again, in the search bar, type %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers and delete the files existing in that folder.
- After that, navigate to Windows Services as in step 1 and then restart the Print Spooler service.
- Try printing emails using the printer after reconnection from the Outlook application now.
- Solution 5. Updating the Driver: This is also an option, if the above solutions are not helping as the printer driver may be outdated or not updated from a long time. You can update the driver for printer like this.
- Go to the Device Manager on the Control Panel of your system..
- Navigate to Printer options, select the Outlook printer and click on Update Driver option.
- Run the Outlook application again and try printing the email.
Outlook 2010
Issue – The most common issue in this version is misprinting or no printing of header while printing the email in Outlook. Due to disorganized header, the email prints improperly.
Cause – The reason could be that the message or mail is not arranged adequately within the printing page.
Solution – In this case, users can open the message in a browser and then click on View option there and then print or select the desired part for print to avoid the header issue.
Outlook 2007 and Earlier Versions
Issue – In the old versions of Outlook, the most prevalent issue related to Outlook printing is that emails are not printing properly, header information is unavailable and selection of pages is not functioning.
Cause – Message not arranged properly in printing page, restrictions in Internet Explorer web browser, HTML formatting issue.
Quick Solutions
- Solution 1. Open Message in Browser and Print: Users can select the message and change it to HTML format by clicking on Edit Message option. Then, click on Other Actions and then select View in Browser. Finally, printing the message.
- Solution 2. Upgrading the Internet Explorer: For earlier versions like 2003 or older, one technique to resolve the issue could be upgrading the Internet Explorer version and then try printing emails in the Outlook version.
We have discussed all the possible manual tricks for almost all Outlook versions. Try them accordingly to fix Outlook Printing Problems. If you are not getting the problem fixed, then possibly the PST file needs repair. Get complete solution for repairing the Outlook PST file with the PST Repair tool compatible with all Outlook versions. Know all details about the tool from this link.
Summary
Outlook printing problems are due to different reasons in different versions which can be resolved by adopting some manual tricks. Another perfect automated solution if the problem is huge like having PST corruption is also in suggestion for the users.
This blog is very helpful for me to fix Microsoft Outlook printing problems.
I tried solution 1, and it worked. Thanks for sharing this information.