Previewing Before You Print

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 22, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word has a very useful function that allows you to see what your printed output will look like before you actually print. This is called print previewing, and it is done in the following manner:

Place the insertion point on the page you wish to preview.
Choose Print Preview from the File menu or click on the Print Preview tool on the toolbar.

You can move around while in Print Preview mode by using the PgUp and PgDn keys. Print Preview mode differs from the other viewing modes of Word in that it shows an exact representation of what your printed output will look like. The other viewing modes only provide different levels of approximation.

When you are done viewing your document in Print Preview mode, and you decide you don't want to print it, you can exit Print Preview by either of these methods:

Press Esc.
Click on the Close button on the Print Preview toolbar.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1383) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing Color of the Insertion Point

In your quest to customize Word, you may change the colors used to display your document. After doing so, it may become ...

Discover More

Massive Printouts

Have you ever wanted to do a simple printout, only to find that Excel spit out dozens of pages, and most of them were ...

Discover More

Getting Identical Margins

Need to get the margins on your document exactly right? It can be a challenge to get the Word settings where you need ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Margins Incorrect when Printing

Endnotes are easy enough to add and accumulate in a document. For this reason, Word makes it easy to jump from one ...

Discover More

Printing All Open Documents

Have a bunch of documents you need to print? If all the documents are open, you can use a handy little macro to print ...

Discover More

Printing Document Properties

Word maintains quite a bit of information about a document in a special collection of items called "properties." You can ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is five minus 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.