How do i find an icon in Microsoft Word (which I suspect may not exist)?
September 22, 2006 8:27 AM Subscribe
How do I get back a lost icon in microsoft office (specifically word)?
Now, this question isn't quite as simplistic as it appears. I'm an office monkey at the local monkey office. My boss, who lacks technological fluency, claims there was once an icon in Microsoft Word which would print just the current page he was looking at. The fact he could go to File, print, and select the setting manually is not the issue as far as he's concerned. Now, i've looked through the Add or Remove Buttons section of word, and can't see anything like it. This button is a myth around the office - apparently he's been banging on about it for years. Has anyone heard of an icon like this? Did it once exist, only to be removed by Microsoft due to its blatantly superfluous nature? Was it made up by my boss altogether? Please help!
Now, this question isn't quite as simplistic as it appears. I'm an office monkey at the local monkey office. My boss, who lacks technological fluency, claims there was once an icon in Microsoft Word which would print just the current page he was looking at. The fact he could go to File, print, and select the setting manually is not the issue as far as he's concerned. Now, i've looked through the Add or Remove Buttons section of word, and can't see anything like it. This button is a myth around the office - apparently he's been banging on about it for years. Has anyone heard of an icon like this? Did it once exist, only to be removed by Microsoft due to its blatantly superfluous nature? Was it made up by my boss altogether? Please help!
bcwinters is correct - there are two different print toolbar buttons, one (called "Print" in the toolbar customisation menu) which prints the currently open file straight away with whatever the default print settings are, and a second one (called "Print..." in the toolbar customisation menu) which brings up the Print dialogue box so you then have to click the OK button to print. "Print..." is the function you get when you go File>Print...
I don't know of any option which prints immediately but only the page you're looking at (and not the whole document). Is it possible that the boss's default print settings were set to "Current Page" in the Print dialogue box (not sure how to do this) and he used the 'immediate Print' button?
To add the 'immediate Print' button back to the toolbar, right click on an empty section of toolbar, click Customize at the bottom, then with the "Commands" tab selected, and the "File" category selected in the Catagories menu on the left, scroll down on the righthand menu till you see the "Print" button. Drag the button onto the toolbar and close the Customize window.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:55 AM on September 22, 2006
I don't know of any option which prints immediately but only the page you're looking at (and not the whole document). Is it possible that the boss's default print settings were set to "Current Page" in the Print dialogue box (not sure how to do this) and he used the 'immediate Print' button?
To add the 'immediate Print' button back to the toolbar, right click on an empty section of toolbar, click Customize at the bottom, then with the "Commands" tab selected, and the "File" category selected in the Catagories menu on the left, scroll down on the righthand menu till you see the "Print" button. Drag the button onto the toolbar and close the Customize window.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:55 AM on September 22, 2006
It would help if we knew what version of Word this supposedly existed in. (or the year, approximately, when he thinks it disappeared) Also, is there any possibility it could have been a plugin or something for Word?
posted by antifuse at 9:19 AM on September 22, 2006
posted by antifuse at 9:19 AM on September 22, 2006
Best answer: I don't think that's what muthecow is asking. The question isn't how to print a document directly, it's how to print just the current page directly.
I suggest writing a macro for it. Save the macro as a txt file on your company system somewhere (so it's available at all computers), then just copy, paste, and assign a button to it on your boss' computer.
Be sure to mention it at your annual review.
I tried it and it worked fine. Here's how I did it (in MS Word 2002):
In Word, open any document.
Go to Tools -> Macro -> Record New Macro...
Give it a name like "printcurrent" and hit OK.
When the little recording box shows up, go to File -> Print... and choose the "Current Page" button and hit OK. While the current page of your doc is printing, hit the square Stop button in the recording box.
Voila!
To make the icon, go to the Customize menu for the toolbars. Choose the "Commands" tab and on the left side, choose Macros. Your macro should show up in the right-side box. Select it and drag it wherever you want it. Once it's in place, right-click to pull up a menu where you can change the icon.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 9:32 AM on September 22, 2006 [2 favorites]
I suggest writing a macro for it. Save the macro as a txt file on your company system somewhere (so it's available at all computers), then just copy, paste, and assign a button to it on your boss' computer.
Be sure to mention it at your annual review.
I tried it and it worked fine. Here's how I did it (in MS Word 2002):
In Word, open any document.
Go to Tools -> Macro -> Record New Macro...
Give it a name like "printcurrent" and hit OK.
When the little recording box shows up, go to File -> Print... and choose the "Current Page" button and hit OK. While the current page of your doc is printing, hit the square Stop button in the recording box.
Voila!
To make the icon, go to the Customize menu for the toolbars. Choose the "Commands" tab and on the left side, choose Macros. Your macro should show up in the right-side box. Select it and drag it wherever you want it. Once it's in place, right-click to pull up a menu where you can change the icon.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 9:32 AM on September 22, 2006 [2 favorites]
There once was such a button...at a New York office I worked at. It was a macro button as Sprout the Vulgarian suggests. (Tangent: we had it as part of our word processing department toolbar, but I think it ended up being provided to all users including executives. Maybe this guy who's always yelling about the button once worked there...)
posted by cps at 10:36 AM on September 22, 2006
posted by cps at 10:36 AM on September 22, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
Then if you look on the right hand side of the Standard toolbar, there's a little downward pointing arrow. If you left click that and choose "Add or Remove Buttons" you can add back the Print button if it isn't already there.
Maybe you mean "print without even seeing a print dialog box"? There's a button for that...it's called "Print" rather than "Print..."
posted by bcwinters at 8:37 AM on September 22, 2006