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
    2013-11-14T19:22:25+00:00

    Print hidden text worked for me.  Thanks a bunch!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-26T11:51:10+00:00

    Hi all

    In my case, I don't think it was margins, since I changed them to normal and that didn't help.  I also changed (increased) in the balloon area, and that didn't help.

    BUT, I've just spoken to an IT guy (whom I now regard as a god!), and I think he may have solved it.  He got me to do two things:

    1.  File > options > display > print hidden text [tick]
    2.  Review > Track Changes > Change Tracking Options > Reduce preferred width of balloons to 6.5cm.

    After that, my comment balloons printed.

    The problem has always been eratic, so it might be that it returns, but I think this may very well be the solution -- and, my guess is, the change that solved it was (1), not (2), but I'm not certain.

    Here's hoping

    d

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  3. Stefan Blom 351.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-07-16T09:42:30+00:00

    I don't know about Rika, but in print preview (like the original poster) I see the comment balloons and yet often (not always) the fail to print, either on paper or in a pdf.

    I have found this in Word 1997-2003, Word 2007, and Word 2010.

    If you increase the horizontal space allocated for comment balloons, does that make a difference? In Word 2010, click Review tab | Track Changes | Change Tracking Options, and increase the value specified for "Preferred width."

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