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: Collating Copies.

Collating Copies

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 29, 2025)

If you work where there is a good size copy machine, you already know what it means to collate something. With a copier, it means the multi-page document you are copying is placed in complete sets that can be used right away. It is the same in Word. If you have a document that consists of five pages, and you are printing multiple copies, you can either print them collated or normal. When they are collated, they are in page 1–5 order for each of the five sets. If they are not collated, five copies of the first page are printed, then five of the second, and so on. To control collating, follow these steps:

Choose Print from the File menu. Word displays the Print dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Print dialog box.

Specify the number of copies you wish to print.
Click on the Collate Copies check box. If the check box is selected, this indicates the copies will be collated.
Click on OK. Your document will be printed.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (465) 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: Collating Copies.

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...

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