Word Document tracking changes does not print as displayed in print preview

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I have a page in a Word 2010 document which is comprised of three columns. In the document itself, the marginal vertical change marks appear as expected next to each respective column. In print preview, the correction marks also appear adjacent to the respective column. But when the document is printed to paper or a PDF is generated, the correction marks from columns 2 and 3 are moved to the left of the first column. I have attached a snip of the print preview page showing the proper change marks to the left of column 2 at lines 6-2, 8-2, 8-3, etc. I have also attached the PDF generated which shows no change marks adjacent to column 2. They have all been moved to the left of column 1. Is there something I am doing wrong or is this just a bug in Word? I have sent this to Microsoft, and their “experts” have had no suggestions. I’m sure this group is smarter, so I put it here as a last gasp before using my marker to ink in the change marks.

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It certainly appears to be a bug IMHO.

I looked at Word 2013 and 2010. In Word 2010 there is a difference between the print preview and the actual output as you have discovered. In Word 2013 the print preview moves all the sidebars to the left of the first column (as per the PDF output it creates).

Since Microsoft appear to have worked out there was a difference in print preview, it appears that they consider the sidebars to be most relevant outside the first column. I would have to say that I agree with them. The purpose of the sidebar is to catch the readers eye so they can scan across the page to see what has changed – forcing the reader to scan the edge of multiple columns is slower and more error prone. It would be nice to see an option so that the author/viewer could decide to merge the sidebars or show them in the column gaps but that could only work if the column spaces are large enough.

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Your explanation makes perfect sense, thank you very much.

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