Comment balloons will not print. WORD 2010

Anonymous
2011-10-25T22:05:21+00:00

Comment balloons will not print.  I have a document that has insertions and deletiions in the text and comments in balloons in the right margin.  When I try to print it, the space is there in the right hand marginto accomidate the ballons but the balloons don't print.  They show up in the Word Print Preview.

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Anonymous
2014-01-15T14:08:17+00:00

This is a very old thread, but i'll post here as it's the top Google answer for 'word comments not printing.' I had this problem with a couple of users and i found the problem was that if a document is displayed in the Windows Explorer preview pane comments balloons won't print. With the preview pane disabled (or if you open the document from within Word, as others suggested), it will work. 

If it has been opened in the preview pane you need to open task manager and kill winword.exe if it is running in order for it to work.

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Anonymous
2012-05-17T17:55:05+00:00

Comment balloons will not print.  I have a document that has insertions and deletiions in the text and comments in balloons in the right margin.  When I try to print it, the space is there in the right hand marginto accomidate the ballons but the balloons don't print.  They show up in the Word Print Preview.

Here's what works for me.  It is still annoying, but at least I can get the comments to print in the shaded area on the paper to match the print preview.  This works for me for printing to PDF, to a networked HP, and to a networked Xerox Mobile Express driver.  I hope it works for you, too.

  1. Close Word.
  2. Re-open Word.
  3. Using Word (not Windows Explorer), open the document.
  4. Print your file.  On the Print page, under Settings, click the button that holds the options like "Print all pages" and make sure that the "Print mark-up" is checked.

I've started doing a test run by printing 1 page to the printer "Adobe PDF", so I know the comment balloons are really printing. This keeps me from wasting paper and pricey color toner, and saves the interruption of a jog down the hall to the network printer.  Once I know the balloons are visible in the PDF, then I send the whole document to print on the network printer.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-14T18:27:34+00:00

    I had the exact same problem.  I did Ctrl-A to select the entire document and pasted it into a new (blank) Work document.  The new document printed fine, i.e., with balloon comments and without the necessity of modifying any print settings.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-05-17T17:26:21+00:00

    Running Word 2010 on windows 7 enterprise  I found that by toggling on the print page the print markup on and off it made the printer and PDF creator include the balloons.  also someone else had this solution:

    http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/print-a-document-showing-tracked-changes-and-comments-HA001218974.aspx

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-01-10T16:10:45+00:00

    Comment balloons will not print.  I have a document that has insertions and deletiions in the text and comments in balloons in the right margin.  When I try to print it, the space is there in the right hand marginto accomidate the ballons but the balloons don't print.  They show up in the Word Print Preview.

    Wow, this problem just about gave me a stroke this morning....nothing suggested here worked.  I finally fixed it...In the "Print" dialog box, choose the "Options" button (bottom left), and make sure "Print hidden text" is checked off under Print Options.  Ugh...how much time and ink I wasted today.  Hope this works for others...

    Addendum...never mind.  One page printed successfully, and now the rest are not.

    Thank you for your insight, Suzanne Barnhill.

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