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
    2015-09-28T16:14:50+00:00

    Stefan,

    I appreciate your response, but looking at this post, this issue has been going for years and has cost many Microsoft customers much time and frustration. It should have been addressed years ago, and it is quite apparent that since MS is now starting to push 2016 the corporation really doesn't care about users who have an issue with a 5 year old version of one of their biggest products. Having a monopoly on the market should not mean that you can just ignore your customers. Shame on Microsoft, as this shows a huge lack of integrity and you yourself with your comment are bowing out too and as and MVP, well I find that rather disappointing.

    The document is not damaged as it does print with comments when opened from within Word, without adjusting settings and it is not a printer issue for the same reason. It is a Microsoft issue.

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  2. Stefan Blom 351.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-09-28T00:01:48+00:00

    Problems printing and/or displaying comments can occur for several different reasons. Printer issues are just one possibility.

    Another possible reason is if the document is damaged. More recently, someone has suggested that the preview pane in File Explorer (Windows Explorer) could be the culprit.

    Also, please note that posters here do not work for the Office team, so we can't tell Microsoft what to do.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-09-25T23:16:48+00:00

    Seriously I cannot believe you are pointing fingers at the printer. We have users printing the same document to different printers, but the same model, and when we have them print to the other printer the same thing happens. This is a Word bug, not a printer bug as 69 people have reported this issue in this post alone and I would bet there is a range of printers here. Microsoft should own it and fix it. It is ridiculous that you should have to close and reopen word not to have this happen.

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