Windows XP forum: printer won't print excel and word documents

* What happens when you click OK on the print dialog? Does it freeze, does it display an error message, or does it return to the document and do nothing?

* Under Printer, did you make sure that your printer is selected and not "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer?"

* The status of the printer being 'idel' is normal, simply meaning that the printer is not yet processing a job, but instead ready and waiting for a command, such as the one you're about to give.

John

When they did that, how did they do it? Did they come out personally or did they send you a new printer?

Did they, or you, delete the old printer from Start > Printer's and Faxes? If not, delete the old one now.

Did they, or you, install any new software for the printer?

Is the new printer set as default? In the same Printer's & Faxes window, rightclick the new printer, and see if you have an option to "Set as default". If you do not, then it is already set as default.

In Microsoft Word, (and do the same in Excel), goto File > Print. In the Print window that displays, make sure that the Epson is displayed as Printer "Name". If not, click the down arrow in the Name field, and select your printer. Click OK to print a page to test it.

See if that helps.

Mark

Cimarron, I believe you have replied here;
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=179827&messageID=1969949
by creating a new discussion, and not clicking the ''Reply to this message'' button.

If so, you said;

''excel documents not printing

They sent me a new printer because a head was clogged. I did uninstall the old one, and reinstalled the new one and the software..
the more things I check out, the more I think its not the fault of the printer, because it prints fine from all other programs.. I think there is a communication problem between Word, Excel and the printer..
I think I have to research more about those programs and the problems they cause.. ''

Did you try the things I suggested? eg;

1] Did you delete the old printer from Start > Printer's and Faxes? If not, delete the old one now.

2] Is the new printer set as default? In the same Printer's & Faxes window, rightclick the new printer, and see if you have an option to ''Set as default''. If you do not, then it is already set as default.

3] In Microsoft Word, (and do the same in Excel), goto File > Print. In the Print window that displays, make sure that the Epson is displayed as Printer ''Name''. If not, click the down arrow in the Name field, and select your printer. Click OK to print a page to test it.

Tell me what happened when you tried those?

I have uninstalled my office program and reinstalled,I have restored my system, I have done just about everything I can think of or read on forums..
On one forum... it said something about using preview and printing from there, well with much fumbling around, I finally did get it to print from there, but it still doesn't remedy the problem and whats causing it.
I know it has to be something wrong with some word or excel application. just don't know what to check out anymore... the printer just isn't communicating with the word program..

I'm having the same problem with Microsoft Word and Excel. MS OneNote prints fine however. I checked the printer drivers, and all of the other applications I have will print and show a printer status of 'Ready', except for Word and Excel which says that the printer status is 'idle'. Another interesting thing is that when I try to print to MS OneNote by selecting it from the printer dropdown menu in the Print dialog window, it still has an 'idle' status. That makes me think it's MS Word and Excel, not a hardware issue or driver issue. To print what I want, I have to highlight everything in the document, copy it into OneNote, and print from OneNote. But nothing I've tried will get Word or Excel to print, not even print to OneNote. I'm wondering if it's a Service Pack issue.(?)

I should also mention that if I convert MS word file to PDF, then it prints OK.