Print Preview

To see what you document will look like when printed, and to avoid wasting paper if something is not right, use the Print Preview command. This mode will show you your document exactly as it will be when printed including pictures, headers and footers or other items that might not show up properly while you are editing.

Choose FilePrint Preview or click on the Print Preview button on the Standard Toolbar

The Print Preview Window

The Print Preview window will display your document. By default, you cannot edit the document in this mode, you can only view it. The mouse point serves as a magnifying glass. Click on the document once to zoom in, click again to zoom out. Use the scroll bars to move from one page to the next. However you can switch from the “Magnifier” view to an editing view if you wish (see below).

You can also use the Print Preview Toolbar while in this view:


The Print Preview Toolbar Word 2001	The Print Preview Toolbar Word 2000

The buttons in the toolbar are (from left to right):

Click on the first button, a picture of a printer, to print the document.
Click on the second button, a magnifying glass, to turn off the Magnifier view.
- When the magnifier view is “On”, the mouse pointer is a magnifying glass and you click to zoom in or zoom out.
- When the magnifier view is “Off”, the mouse pointer is an I-beam cursor and you can edit the document.
Click on the third button, the “One Page” button, to display only one page at a time. Use the scroll bars to move from one page to another.
Click on the fourth button, the “Multiple Page” button, to display more than one page at a time. When you click on this button a drop-down box will appear and you can choose how many pages to display at one time. Use the scroll bars to move from one page to another.
The next item is not a button but a drop-down box to change the viewing size. You can still use the magnifying glass in magnifier view to zoom in and out.
The next button, “View Ruler”, is used to display or not display the rulers.
The next button, “Shrink to Fit”, is rather interesting! If your document is only a few lines too long to fit on one page, you might try this button. This option changes the font size and line spacing so that the lines will not spill over onto the second page. To put it another way, Word will attempt to shrink your document to make it fit on only one page! If your document is many pages long, this option may result in a reduction of your document by more than one page. If the shrinking is more than you like, you can always cancel the action via the Undo command. Wouldn't it be nice if a clothes dryer had an undo option?
The next to the last button is “Full Screen”. Click it and the title bar and toolbars disappear. Click on the “Close Full Screen” button … it will appear when in full screen mode … to return to the normal preview screen.
Click on the “Close” button to exit Print Preview and return to normal view.

Now Don't Forget This …

The main reason to use Print Preview is to determine the length of your document and to see where the page breaks fill occur. One of the problems, however, is that pagination depends upon the printer you are using. Each printer has its own printer driver. If your computer is connected to an ink jet printer when you check your document, and then you actually print the document from another computer which is connected to a laser printer, then the difference in printer drivers (ink jet versus laser) could result in Print Preview showing one thing while actual printing shows something else. Oftentimes, such differences for word processing documents are minor but they can be major in other kinds of documents (for example, spreadsheets). In any case, you need to be aware that they exist. Platform (Mac versus Windows) usually does not matter when it comes to differences in printer drivers. However, you need to be aware that Mac and Windows process fonts differently. This will mean that something that fits nicely on one page using say Excel or Word for Mac may not fit on a single page when you try to print the same file using Excel or Word for Windows.

In either case, the best thing for you to do is to do a Print Preview from the same computer you are going to use for printing or do a Print Preview just before you print if you have to change computers.

Print Preview

The Print Preview Window

Now Don't Forget This …

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