printing w/right click (word xp)

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please help, why cant i use my right click in word to print document, you know instead of opening the file you right click and print the document without opening it. It doesnt work in excel either. maybe i’m just stupid… does someone know the fix for this please

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Good question. I can’t do it either. In fact, the menu items in that group: Open New and Print don’t work. Only the Select item at the top works — it opens the file. I’ve got the SP1 installed, so if this is a bug, the latest from MS missed it.

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I don’t have XP yet, but the official line is that you can set the right-click menu options from My Computer:
1. Open My Computer
2. Tools | Folder Options
3. File types Tab
4. Select Folder
5. Press the Advanced button
6. Set the actions that the right-click menu displays
7. You can also set the default to Print

But unfortunately, I can’t try it out. HTH –Sam

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I went through your steps but when i got to the point of set the actions that…. i didnt know what to type in there. what exactly should i type, please?

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You’re describing the file associatons dialog? On my system, the file associations for .doc files are set to the MS defautls and work fine as long as you are not in Word.

I follow you except when you get to 4. Select Folder. The dialog displayed lists file types by extension. What do you mean by Select Folder?

In Word 97 you can use the context menu from the Open Dialog to print a Word document. And a second instance of Word is not started to do this.

In Word 2002, the exact same action returns the error message:

“The coomand you selected is not available from this shortcut menu.”

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Can this be done with Word 2000 running on Windows XP? If so, do you know the steps? I can follow these through #5, but then I don’t understand #6 “Set the actions that the right-click menu displays” or #7.

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Ah, Word 2000 I have and I may give the correct answer this time. It

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Do you mean right click in the File | Open dialog box ?.

If so that does not print without opening – the file is opened before being printed.

When you are in an application the feature seems to disbled for that application’s documents. From Word’s File Open dialog box right click on an Excel file (or any non word type) and select Print, and it should work. The same would apply in Excel for word documents.

In all cases however the owner application is launched.

That is my experience of this “feature”.

Andrew C

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Andrew, i tried that and your right i can print word docs in excel and does open and close word, but in previous versions you could print word docs in word. any more suggestions?

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I don’t have XP but why don’t you try:

1. When in the File Open dialog box, there is a button near the top marked TOOLS, which will give you the option to print without opening the file.

2. Making a shortcut to your printer in the SEND TO menu.

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selecting the tool menu did work thank you,

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In addition to Sammy B’s last response on how to get the SHortcut menu bar open and add things to it, here’s a little trick I discovered. Once you have that menu bar open so you can add things to it, you are not limited to items in the Command tab of the Customize dialog. You can also just left-click and drag an item from an existing menu or toolbar onto the Shortcut menu bar. So you can drag your printer icon from the Standard toolbar. You probably want to make sure you hold the CTRL key down while you’re dragging the icon or menu item to make a COPY of the Shortcut menu bar. I’d bet you don’t want to MOVE the item from one to the other (what happens without the CTRLkey). When you have the item positioned over the Shortcut menu bar, just hold it over the correct grouping and it will pop open, allowing you to choose a particular item from the grouping. Continue dragging down to the particular item and its shortcut menu will pop open. Now drag onto the menu and position the print icon/menu where you want it. Try it, it’s pretty easy.

HTH

Fred

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