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Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2024 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

Printer  problems - some reasons why WordPerfect might

Repairing WordPerfect documents and templates

Repairing 'bad' or damaged WordPerfect program files

Other pages on this site that relate to printing issues -

Why some documents seem to "spontaneously" or automatically reformat themselves when they are opened, printed, faxed, or shared between users

How to quickly change printers (WP8+) back to the default after printing to a different printer or faxing the document

Print your letterhead page from one printer tray, and second and subsequent pages (or envelopes) from another tray or slot [includes "How WordPerfect 'talks' to your printer"]

Print envelopes to another printer, then reset WordPerfect 10 to your default printer

Do you want to remove blue underlines in e-mail addresses and web site URLs from your printouts? Get rid of the hypertext links.

How to create new, customized copies of your favorite printer choices - Controlling the tray source (in other software programs), ink color, and other features of your printer from File, Print - (Includes macros to help change to your new printer selections)

Other WordPerfect "repair" pages on this site -

Repairing WordPerfect documents and templates - How to find and fix common problems

Disclaimer

Some "printer" problems might be due to a missing or corrupt font, even if the printer is still available. 

Fonts can be hardware fonts (i.e., built into the printer and often called "printer fonts," and which display an icon next to their name in WordPerfect's Fonts dialog that looks like a tiny printer — such as you might see with some versions of the Courier font).  Or they can be software fonts, installed in Windows. [Tip: To reinstall standard Windows fonts see the Microsoft support site.]

•  If a font is missing, WordPerfect will substitute what it thinks is a close match; this might not be obvious until something appears "strange" — such as

- text "pushed together," or
- text that extends beyond the margin, or
- text that appears faint or faded in some (or all) areas, or
- text justification that is not what you expect.

•  Try printing with a different Windows font. (Tip: If you need a software version of Courier that is darker than the typical Courier, try downloading and installing the free Dark Courier font from http://www.hp.com/ or other location (search with Google).)

•  Note that fonts can be specified in the body text of the document as well as "upstream" in the default template. (WordPerfect is a "stream oriented" program, where codes take effect until discontinued, replaced, or removed by another code.) If you can't find a font problem in the document, try editing the default (or custom) template, as discussed in WordPerfect Templates.

•  For other formatting issues see Why some documents seem to "spontaneously" or automatically reformat themselves when they are opened, printed, faxed, or shared between users here. There are settings in WordPerfect that can cause reformatting, which can be mistaken for a problem with the printer.

•  For the technically minded: See Jim Shackleford's post about software fonts, printer fonts, and screen fonts (and related formatting issues) on WordPerfect Universe, "What You Need To Know About Font Mapping," here.

Updating to the latest version and "build" of WordPerfect Office may solve some printer issues. Information on updating may be found here.

•  Most versions of WordPerfect have an option to save various printer settings via an option on the Print dialog (File, Print, Settings (and Edit Settings)). Sometimes these are set by users and then forgotten until something seems to go wrong in printing, or until another user tries to print without knowing what custom settings are in effect.

Search your WordPerfect Help (F1 key) for "saving print settings." (WordPerfect X5 and later versions have an updated Reference Center that contains a PDF User Guide with more information.)

For example, to restore the program's default print settings: Click File, Print, and click the Main tab. In the Settings list box, choose Application Default. Click the Edit settings button, and click on Restore.

•  Printing from the wrong tray? See "Why are documents sent to the wrong paper tray (e.g., only to the default tray)?" below.

•  Printing in color when you need to print in black instead?

[From Corel's Knowledgebase here:]
"In WordPerfect, Print in Color is generally enabled by default. Here’s how to disable this function by default.  This can save on the use of colored ink and improve print quality in text documents with some printers.

1. Open WordPerfect
2. Click File, Print
3. Click the Advanced Tab in the print dialog
4. Uncheck “Print in Color”
5. Click the Main tab.
6. At the bottom right, click Edit Settings
7. Ensure that “Name for current settings:” reads “[Application Default]”
8. Click on the checkbox beside “Advanced Settings” until it holds a black checkmark on a white background.
9. Uncheck “Use printer Properties from currently selected printer”
10. Click Save
11. Click Close
12. Close the print dialog, or print your document."

See "Why some documents seem to 'spontaneously' or automatically reformat themselves when they are opened, printed, faxed, or shared between users" here.

Step 1. Use whichever method you prefer:

Method 1: To get to the Control Panel (e.g., in Windows 10 or some earlier Windows versions) you can hold down the Windows logokey while pressing the S key; then search for "Control Panel". When the search finds it, left-click on its entry in that search window to choose it. Then in the Control Panel window that appears, click on the link "View devices and printers" to open the Devices and Printers window.

Method 2: Alternatively, in (e.g.) Windows 10 use "Settings" (a.k.a., "All settings" in the Notification area), then click on Devices. In the next window's left side panel under "Devices" click on "Printers & scanners".

¤  Offline printer(s):  Corel Knowledgebase article here:

"This can happen when there is at least one printer in the Windows Control Panel listed as Offline or Not Ready.

This is due to WordPerfect trying to aquire page definitions from a printer that it cannot connect to but [is] listed on your Control Panel as installed. [Bold added. See also Footnote 2 below.]

To resolve this issue, remove the reference to the offline printer(s) from your Windows Control Panel."  [However, this seems to relate more to printers that are (or planned to be) no longer used. For printers that might simply be turned off when not in use, see the next note below. -Ed.]

Again, since WordPerfect makes greater use of printer drivers than many other programs to produce true WYSIWYG ("What You See is What You Get") output to your screen, it can be affected by printer driver issues that other programs might not notice.

Note

Some printers can take a few minutes to connect to the network after powering up. They sometimes have to wait for a few minutes for the network to get around to recognizing them.

Further: If a printer is turned off the program can take much longer than normal to load at the beginning of a session as it attempts to connect to the (now) offline printer. Subsequent program loading during the same Windows session might revert to a normal load speed — only to go back to slow loading with the next Windows session. This first-slow-then-normal wait time can be a strong clue that an offline printer is at fault.

(I have had this problem when I turned off a rarely used network-connected Brother Label Printer. Turning it on again and waiting several minutes (even overnight in one case) seems to have resolved the problem. A dedicated "label-maker" device didn't seem to be a printer problem, but of course if it's connected to the system and listed in the Windows Control Panel it's a printer to WordPerfect. I now leave it on all the time since it doesn't draw much power in "ready" mode. [Update: I find that I now can turn it off when not in use. Perhaps something changed in Windows since my original issue surfaced. Still, it might help in some circumstances....])

¤  Old printer drivers still installed: 

An alternative cause of slow opening might be the existence of one or more old printer drivers that are still in the Windows Registry for the current Windows User and specific version of WordPerfect even after the printer(s) were removed.

I have found that restoring the WordPerfect "print engine" key in the Windows Registry — by simply renaming that Registry key (see steps 1-11 below) so that the program will create a new factory fresh copy when it next loads — can fix such a slow loading problem. Here's a thread on WordPerfect Universe that describes the solution, which might also work for you.

•  WordPerfect will not open at all (i.e., it's not just very slow to open).

Again, it might be a printer driver issue, especially if the printer driver's file on your disk is damaged. Or it might be another problem such as those listed below. [As noted on the RepairDocs page it could be a corrupted default template, which is one of the first things the program tries to access when you open it. See the "troubleshooting path" section there for other possibilities.]

•  The Print button is grayed (greyed) out.

¤  A (normal) reason this happens: If you try to select (or set options for) a printer with no document on screen, WordPerfect will automatically enable the checkbox, "Document on disk," in File, Print, Advanced tab — and the print button will be inactive.

As 'CyndyZ' stated (here) on WordPerfect Universe:
"[This] is exactly what should happen when you bring up the Print dialog when there is a new blank document on screen - WP knows there is nothing there to print, so it will (or should) offer to print a document on disk" instead - it checks that box and waits for you to pick a document to print (use the browse button to the right of that field); when you do that, the Print button would become available. This should not happen, of course, if there is a document on-screen when you bring up the Print dialog."

¤  Update June 2011: The problem with the "Document on Disk" checkbox retaining its enabled ("on") state has been resolved in WPX5, Service Pack 2 (i.e., version 15.0.0.505). From the Release Notes for that patch: "...The print option "Document on Disk" does not remain enabled after the Print dialog is accessed from an empty document."
    But be aware that it can remain enabled during the current session under normal circumstances, presumably because the program thinks you might want to print the disk document more than once (e.g., a form or other often used document).

What is a printer driver?

A printer driver is a small software module supplied by the printer manufacturer and is installed when you install your printer. Printer drivers function to "talk" to a specific printer and are also heavily used by WordPerfect to match the screen display with the printer's output to produce true WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") on your monitor.

Printer driver information, along with a lot of other information, is stored with the document.

Most printer manufacturers give instructions on their sites about deleting old drivers and installing new ones.

Generally, installing a new or updated printer driver is as easy as downloading a file from the manufacturer and double-clicking on it. Typically it then will set up some files in a separate (temporary) folder and install the printer driver from there. Usually this takes only a minute or two.

[Caveat: Sometimes reverting to an earlier version of the driver is better. For example, Many users find that the HP PCL 5e driver works better than the HP PCL 6 driver (but this author has found at least one case where the opposite was true). Both versions usually can be installed at the same time; they will show up in the File, Print dialog as separate entries.]

More precisely, here is a way to do delete and reinstall a printer driver in Windows XP (note that the procedure may differ slightly in other operating systems — see Footnote 1 below for methods reported to work in removing old printer drivers in Windows 7 and later versions — so if you are unsure of how to proceed you should check the printer manufacturer's website and/or the Microsoft support site for instructions):

First, obtain the latest printer driver for your model of printer and for your operating system from the printer manufacturer's web site. (Reason: The installation CD that came with the printer might be out of date — especially for Windows 7+ systems.)

Then in Windows XP (for Windows 7 - Windows 10 see Footnote 1 below):

1. Open the Windows Control Panel with Start, Settings, Control Panel.
In the Printers and Faxes module, click on the printer icon or name. [In Windows XP you can also click Start, Settings, Printers and Faxes.]
2. Press <Delete> to delete the printer name (or icon).
3. Still in the Printers and Faxes dialog, click File, Server Properties, Drivers tab, and delete the printer driver. (This second step deletes the actual printer driver.)
4. Exit from the Control Panel, back to the Windows desktop.
5. Re-install the printer using the updated printer driver.

•  Communication problems with the printer?

Does WordPerfect seem unable to "talk" to your printer? That is, when you try to print something, nothing happens (or worse, the program crashes)? Here are two possible solutions.

The following information is from the Corel support site article,

Important:
= = = = =
- Read all steps before starting step 1.
- Steps 3-6 will create a backup of the entire Windows registry in a special file (with a .reg filename extension) that will let you easily restore the individual registry items you changed, if needed, to what they were when you made the backup. [Note that to reset the entire registry back to its factory-default state would require a reinstall of Windows (e.g., via Reset This PC).]
- Administrator rights are required to edit the registry.
= = = = =

1. Close all applications, including WordPerfect.

2. Click Start, Run [or: use the Windows shortcut key, Win+R]. In the Open text box, type Regedit and click OK.

3. This will bring you into the Windows Registry Editor. In that Editor, click once on Computer at the top of the tree (above the several HKEY_* items) to select it.

Then click File, Export (or in some versions: Registry, Export) on the Editor's menu. This opens the Export Registry File dialog.

4. At the top of that dialog, in the Save in field, select Desktop or Documents, or any other preferred location to hold the backup file.

5. Towards the Editor's bottom where it says File Name, type in the word Backup.

[Caution: Don't immediately press Enter after the name or click the Save button; otherwise, you might not have selected all registry entries to export (see step 6). If you happened to do that, or are not sure, just carefully repeat this Section and select All (step 6) before saving the backup file. (You can simply overwrite any existing file of the same name with the new, correct version.)]

6. Below to the left, under Export range, select All and then click Save.

[This creates a file named Backup.reg that can be used to Import (i.e., restore) the registry to the state it was in when you made that backup file.]

The cursor will change to an hour glass and will return to a pointed arrow.

7. Double click the folder (i.e., "hive") named  HKEY_CURRENT_USER to expand it.

8. Double click the key, SOFTWARE to expand it.

9. Double click the sub-key Corel to expand it.

10. Right-click on PrintEngine and select Rename. Rename it to PrintEngine1 [or for better recognition if you edit the registry later, rename it to PrintEngineOld].

[Note that if you have installed other versions of WordPerfect, their keys are included (by version number) under the PrintEngine key as sub-keys. So you only need to rename the top level key, PrintEngine.]

11. Press the X at the top right corner to close the Windows registry.

[Renaming the PrintEngine registry key simply causes WordPerfect Office to create a new version of that key when next you load WordPerfect — while retaining the old version in case you need to revert to it. And, as noted above, you might need only steps 1-11, 18, and 21.]

[Section B.] Delete the printer drivers:

12. Click Start, Printers & Faxes (or Start, Settings, Control Panel, Printers).

13. Select your printer drivers and delete them. (All of them).

14. Disable the items in the Windows startup group: Click Start, Run.

15. In the box, type: MSCONFIG and press OK.

16. From the System Configuration Utility dialog, select the Startup tab.

17. From the Startup tab, click Disable All, click Apply, click OK.

Shut down and reboot the computer.

18. Shutdown your computer, wait 10 seconds and restart it. (This way your local printer will reinstall automatically).

19. Close the System Configuration Utility dialog and press the X at the top right corner to close the box.

20. Install your printer driver if Windows did not install your printer.

21. Start WordPerfect and test.

An alternative approach to resetting the PrintEngine (previous tip) was suggested by various gurus such as by an Admin on WordPerfect Universe (here) and was also included on an old Corel support site:

[Go to top]

Here a two methods to choose from that should be successful in removing printer drivers from a Windows 7/8/10 system.

IMPORTANT: Always set a Windows Restore point — or, better yet, make a full disk image of your boot drive — before changing Windows settings.

Method 1

[From Windows 7 Inside and Out, pg. 644 (Microsoft Press, 2010):]

1. [For Windows 7:] Go to Start> Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.

- Simultaneously press the Windows logo key and the S key [+S] to open the Windows search feature, then search for "Control Panel". 

2. Click on a printer name (or icon) in that dialog to choose it. On the dialog's toolbar, click on "Print server properties."

3. In the Print Server Properties dialog that appears, choose the Drivers tab. [The Forms tab controls the forms you assign to trays using the Device Settings tab in your printer's Properties dialog; you can also create or delete custom forms here.]

4. Select the printer driver to remove, and click Remove. A small dialog should appear with two choices:

Notes

1. If your print spooler has documents in it waiting to print, you will not be able to remove the printer driver. See Method 2 below, which produces a similar result (steps 1-4) to the above method, but also gives a method of emptying the print spooler.

2. Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions have a (somewhat hidden) tool that puts all print management tasks (printers, drivers, queues, and shares) in a single dialog. If you want to use it, enter (without quotes) "printmanagement.msc" in the Start search field. (The dialog has a Help menu.)

Method 2 (a bit more comprehensive than Method 1)

From a 6/7/2011 post here at answers.microsoft.com (here):

"... I have found the solution to this problem ... the info above [in the original thread] is correct as far as it goes, but in my case there was (a) no option to clear the print queue on two 'ghost' printers because they were disconnected and unavailable, so no option for the print queue was displayed, and (b) one was shared on the network and had a TCP/IP printer port assigned to it.

Here's how I did it, step-by-step:

1. right-click on desktop, create a new shortcut with target as 'cmd.exe'.

2. right-click on the shortcut, "Run as Administrator"

3. Run the printui tool: [Type this command in the Start>Search field:] printui /s /t2

4. Try deleting the printers. [These steps take you to the same dialog Method 1 above. -Ed.]

If that doesn't work...

5. Click Start > Run > Services.msc

6. Locate the Print Spooler service, and right-click > Properties > stop service.

7. Open My Computer and browse to c:\Windows\System32\spool\Printers
(you will need to say "OK" to get access to the folder).

8. DELETE the contents of that folder.

9. Restart the Print Spooler service.

10. Go back into the printui utillity (might need to restart it using same method as above) and try removing printers again. This time it should work. If necessary, check the "Ports" tab and remove any TCP/IP ports that are associated with the old printer.

11. Last but not least, I checked other computers on my home network to see if any of those had mapped to the old printer, and I removed those mappings, as the date of spooled documents suggested it was printed to long after it was physically removed."