Non-Printing Hyperlinks

Karen reported a problem she was having getting hyperlinks in a document to print on her home computer. The document would print, but the hyperlinks would simply not be there. The same document would print fine on her system at work, but not on her home system. Both her home and work systems use the same version of Word.

There are two possible answers to this problem. First, there may be a difference between the printers at work and home. If the home computer uses a color printer, then the hyperlinks may not print because of something as simple as being out of the proper ink color to print the hyperlinks. The same thing may actually print at work because the printer is not out of ink, or the color output is being translated to black and white.

If the ink is OK on the home computer, then check to make sure that the print settings are the same on the home computer as they are on the work computer. Choose Options from the Tools menu, then click on the Print tab. If the settings are the same on the home system as they are on the work system, then Word should be creating the print job in a consistent manner across both systems.

Finally, check your printer-specific settings to make sure there is nothing there that would affect the printing of either hyperlinks or text that is formatted the same color as your hyperlinks. Display the Print dialog box and, with your printer selected at the top of the dialog box, click on the Properties button. You may have to do some exploring in the dialog box, but this is where you control the nitty-gritty of how your printer actually prints what it receives from Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1348) 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: Non-Printing Hyperlinks.