Word 2013 forgets printer settings

My remark that Microsoft staff don't participate in the forum was actually for JeremyDJShaw, to whom I replied.

You can uninstall a newer version of Office and leave an older version behind. Files stored on the hard drive won't be affected by that.

Note that it is best to repair Office 2010 after you have uninstalled Office 2013. See https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Repair-an-Office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b?CorrelationId=94d7eb60-b980-4dd9-9a56-1331f492ce25&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US.

I didn't expect MS to respond here. I was hoping some other person was ahead of me on the curve and found a workaround or outright fix. I'd prefer not to use a macro because I don't know enough to use them and a little info is far worse than a lot of info on a subject.  

I do have an update of sorts. My color laser which is printing only a document seems to be behaving at the moment so that's 1 of the 3 problems solved temporarily. I also can't say for sure if it's anything I did to fix it either.

My other two issues involve printing from a website using Chrome or Mozilla. I'm about to try IE but I suspect there will be no real fix just for using it. At this time, I can change my way of doing things and get results, while not idea, at least workable. My issue was printing on a label printer and then printing to BW Laser printer, both from a website (ebay and amazon using Java). IF I print all the labels first, then go back and reopen each transaction I can then switch the printer from the Zebra to the Laser and change the settings for that printer so it prints to "fit the page" also know as 100% on the scaling feature depending on how you arrive at that area of the properties.

My Zebra label printer has lately been overriding its settings and changing the size of the page from 4x6 to 4.88 x 11 and printing one label then a blank label (representing the 11" I assume). I have to change that frequently. When I go to the printer properties from the windows start menu, it shows the correct label size of 4x6. I don't know what is changing it but it NEVER, repeat NEVER did it until I installed office 2013.

Does anyone know what might happen if I uninstalled 2013?  Office 2010 is still on my machine and yes I have tried printing everything from there too and it seems whatever changed on the install changed it for that too. If I remove both and then re-install 2010, will anything negative happen to my documents stored on my PC and in Dropbox?  I can't afford to loose any of them obviously.   Anyone tried that one?

This is a very long discussion, so I can't tell if someone from Microsoft has replied to this thread. Anyway, Microsoft staff don't usually participate here, because it is a user-to-user forums.

Unlike other applications, Word offers very little control over the printer. The printer set as the default in Windows will be used unless you picked a different printer for the current Word session. Exiting and restarting Word will revert to the default printer again.

It is bizarre that Microsoft deny this is a problem despite user experience such as yours to the contrary.

I am not sure if it will be good enough for you but a workaround is available in a shareware macro here:

http://www.gmayor.com/Associate_Printer.htm

You put the template in your Word startup folder and it adds a macro that allows you to associate docs with printers. That appears as a ribbon bar button.

It works fine for me. I have been using it for some months. You lose the printing options of the usual dialog box, but I find it useful for printing labels to my little label printer, as it prevents me printing them on my A4 printer or, worse, printing loads of useless labels when I just wanted a letter! It might help...

It seems I am saddled with the same printer issue but I thought I’d give it a go anyway. Frist I’ll describe what I used to do under Office 2010 and how it worked and then tell you what 2013 is doing.

I have windows 7 and 4 printers, 3 of which I use daily. An HP LaserJet Pro 451 Color, a B&W HP LaserJet1536 MFP and a Zebra LP2844 label printer. The HP 8600 inkjet is rarely used. I use them for eBay and Amazon. I print color invoices with directions for the customer first that prints on both sides. The printer sees the document and prints it correctly for the last year and a half. Next comes the shipping label that is printed within eBay and Amazon using a 4x6 thermal label. This also prints flawlessly when using java (which I hate) and Chrome as my browser.  Finally, I print the ebay screen to get the customer info to keep a hard copy of the sale and shipment info. That prints auto two sided too – perfectly on the B&W printer. I never have to change printer settings for any of these documents to print correctly. It remembers them all.

Now comes last week and my idiotic idea to upgrade to MS Office 2013 and my efficient work environment comes crashing down immediately around my head. Nothing prints as it should without click after click that I never had to do before last week. I have to tell it every detail of the document each and every time I want to print it. It retains nothing correctly except duplexing. I have tried every procedure I can think of and nothing works as it should. My color laser which prints a color document for my customers is the only item that prints correctly. Next comes the label. Using Java and eBay’s website to print, the print window that used to show the label in its correct form and format (4x6) now shows my default printer which is my color laser (All my eBay and PayPal settings are correct and verified btw).  Never did that before. I change to the Zebra printer and hit print and out pops either a midget label that won’t work or sometimes I get half a label on two labels and have to reprint it. I have also gotten a correct label followed by a blank label. I have wasted so many labels my shredder is now full. Once I finally get that one going correctly and reload the blank label back into the printer I go to print the details of the transactions from the website. I click on ctrl-P and the zebra printer shows in the box now and the printout is formatted as a 4x6 label instead of a letter size paper. I change to the B/W laser and hit enter to print. Sometimes I get it correct and half the time it prints duplex as it should but the text is still in a 4x6 format on a letter size piece of paper. I’ve had other variations too, only the left half in huge letters or tiny letters on front and back.

What used to take a few clicks for each print now takes up to 6-8 clicks and even then it’s right only half the time. I’m wasting time, paper, labels and I’m at my wits end here. If I could roll it back to 2010 and toss out 2013 I’d do it in a NY minute. Trouble is I didn’t create a restore point (stupid me) and I don’t know what I have changed in my database and if it will stay put or not.

To those of you who say that documents don’t keep printer settings, you are wrong, at least in my case and too many others have voiced the same opinion here as well. Someone out there has solved this issue – please tell us how!!!  I’m not a techy wizard, I don’t have time to fool around with this stuff, its stupid and a waste of my time and resources.