Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Defining Default Printers on a Document Level.

Defining Default Printers on a Document Level

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 27, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Some programs remember, on a document-by-document basis, what printer you last used when working with that document. For instance, InDesign and QuarkXPress remember what printer was used to print any given document; if you switch from one document to another, the printer designated to print that document will also change.

Word, unfortunately, does not have such a capability. Instead, Word keeps track of printers on a session-by-session basis. In other words, when you start Word, it starts by assuming you want to print to your default Windows printer. If you later change to a different printer, that printer remains selected until you specifically make changes. When you quit your Word session and restart later, the selected printer again reverts to the default printer.

There are several ways you could work around this shortcoming. One is to define different custom printer buttons (one for each of your printers) and then simply use those to print different documents, as desired. If you want Word to do the remembering of which printer was used, then your only option is to create a macro that would do this for you. This approach, however, is not a trivial one. For this reason, the balance of this tip will discuss only the generalities of writing such a macro instead of presenting the actual macro code.

A simple way to implement such a macro system would be to define a special custom document property, and then use the contents of that property to store the name of the printer last used for the document. The document property could be set using the AutoClose macro, which is called whenever you close a document.

Once the custom document property is set, a macro can read the value and reset the printer whenever you are ready to print. If the document property is not set or if it is set to a printer that is not available, then it could simply use the default Windows printer.

The trick in all this, of course, is to determine when the macro that does the printer switching should be executed. It could be placed in one of the Auto macros (such as AutoOpen), but that would not completely solve the problem. For instance, if you open two documents at the same time, the printer would remain set to the printer specified in the last document you opened.

A more useful solution may be to simply use macros to redefine the print command used within Word. When you chose to print your document, the macro would present the standard Print dialog box, but the selected printer would be changed to whatever printer is stored in the custom document property. The drawback to this approach is the same as the initial strength—that the printer isn't changed until actually printing. Word relies upon the selected printer driver to control its WYSIWYG display. In other words, the printer driver selected controls how information is displayed on the screen. If the printer driver changes just before printing, then what is printed may not match what is displayed on the screen.

The best solution would be to tie the printer-setting macro to an event that fired whenever a document attained focus (when the document was selected). Unfortunately, there is no such event available for document objects in VBA. (Which is very curious since there is such an object in Excel's implementation of VBA.)

The upshot of all this is that a complete solution will necessitate the changing of several different built-in Word commands. Which commands? It really depends on how you use Word. For instance, if you normally look at Print Preview before printing, then you will want to change the Print Preview command so that it changes the printer driver. Do you choose the Print command directly from the Print Preview screen? If so, then you will need to make changes to that command.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1551) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Defining Default Printers on a Document Level.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Moving Text Using the Mouse

Many people use the keyboard to do their primary editing tasks. Word doesn't limit you to the keyboard, however. You can ...

Discover More

Clean Up Your Macro List

Got a workbook cluttered with all sorts of macros? Delete them and you'll make your workbook easier to manage.

Discover More

Quickly Displaying the Page Setup Dialog Box

The Page Setup dialog box is indispensable in setting up the overall look of your document. You can display the dialog ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Adding One More Line

It always seems to happen—you print a document and then discover that you should have included one more line of ...

Discover More

Easily Changing Print Order

You can change the order in which pages are printed (normal or reversed) using the Print dialog box. What if you want a ...

Discover More

Triple-Spacing Your Document

Print your document with lots of space between each line—triple space it! Here's some quick and easy steps for ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is nine minus 5?

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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.