5 Things to do if Microsoft Word won’t Print your Images

There are several reasons why Word won’t print out the images you have inserted. Mostly it is to do with memory or field codes that print out rather than the actual image the field code refers to. These are the 5 most common reasons Microsoft Word may be doing this. I have also added solutions on how to get around these issues.

1. You are printing in Draft mode.

Word 2003 – To print the borders and graphics in a document, click Options on the Tools menu, click the Print tab, and then clear the Draft output check box.

Try printing now and see if this works.

Word 2007 – Click the Microsoft Office button in the top left corner, then Print, Options, Advanced and then clear the Use Quality Draft checkbox.

Print advanced option, use quality draft

2.  Is the Drawing objects option selected?

Go to Tools, Options, Print tab, and then select the Drawing objects check box.

3. Have you printed the field codes for a linked graphic rather than the graphic itself?

Word 2003 – Go to the Tools, Options, Print tab. Clear the Field codes check box.

Word 2007 – Click the Microsoft Office button in the top left corner, then Print, Options, Advanced and then clear the Print Field Codes instead of their values.

print field codes instead of their values

4. PC is low on memory.

Reboot and try to print again. This clears out temp files and other horrors that clog up the system.

Still now working?

5. Do one or more of the following:

5.1 Quit all other programs you’re running.

5.2 Save your document and then close any other windows you have open.

5.3 Switch to Print layout view.

5.4 Word 2003 – On the Tools menu, click Options, click the View tab, and then clear the Picture placeholders, Status bar, Vertical ruler, Horizontal scroll bar, and Vertical scroll bar check boxes.

5.5 Switch to Normal view. Click Tools, Options, View tab. In the Style area width box, type 0 (zero).

5.6 Hide the toolbars. On the View menu, click Toolbars, and then clear all check boxes.

5.7 Quit Word, and then restart it.

5.8 Disconnect from the web and other programs you usually run. Sometimes Word gets ‘locked’ into a cycle when trying to download updates and/or open other files in the background.

5.9 Close all programs and restart your computer.

Word should now start behaving normal again.

If this fails, find the Normal.dot file, back it up, then delete it and restart Word.

Normal.dot controls how Microsoft Word presents the document. 9 times out of 10 this gets corrupted. Delete it and start again. Microsoft Word will create a new one for you when you restart.

Anyway you a have a backup, just in case.