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Office 2016 won’t print [FIX]

11 min. read

Updated onDecember 7, 2023

updated onDecember 7, 2023

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Sometimes when you try to use your printer with Office 2016, it may not respond as you expect it to, orOffice 2016 won’t printyour documents.

In both cases, you need to figure out what the underlying issue is and we’ve got solutions that can help remedy the problem and get you back printing your documents as you normally do.

Here are some solutions to use when Office 2016 won’t print.

Office 2016 won’t print: How to fix this issue

Solution 1: Check if your printer is listed underUnspecified Devicestate

Once you confirm whether it is there or not, do these three things:

If these are clear, and you still cannot connect the printer to Windows, then your computer may not be connecting to your wireless network.

Solution 2: Test printing in other documents

Usually, when documents are damaged or have damaged graphics and/or fonts, they can cause printing errors. Before you reinstall drivers or any other software, test Word program’s ability to print.

Here’s how to do this:

These tests are meant to check whether Word can print in general, but also give you clues about fonts or graphics it cannot print. If you don’t get errors in the test print document, but Office 2016 won’t print your original document, it may be damaged.

If youcan’t print a particular documentbut you can print others in Word, then your document may be damaged, which means it won’t print even from another computer with Office 2016.

Solution 3: Uninstall and reinstall your printer

Follow these steps to remove your printer:

Reinstall your printer (wireless or local) using the following steps:

Note:you can print a test page to ensure the printer works correctly. If it is installed but doesn’t work, check the device’s manufacturer website for troubleshooting or driver updates.

To connect to a local printer, plug in the printer’s USB cable to an available USB port on your computer, then turn on the printer and check if Office 2016 will print after doing this.

Solution 4: Update printer drivers

Driver software is needed for most printers to work properly. In the event you updated or upgraded to Windows 10, you may have to update your current printer driver so that it matches or is compatible with the new Windows version.

If you had recent power outages, viruses in your computer, or other issues, the drivers may have also been damaged.

Download and install the latest driver using either of these three ways:

Once you update the driver for your printer, do the following:

Once you complete the steps above, run a test print and see if Office 16 will execute it this time. If these steps didn’t work, try the next solution.

Remember, getting the latest driver also helps whenWord mail merge envelopes are not printing

Solution 5: Run the printing troubleshooter

If Office 2016 won’t print, or you cannot connect to your printer, run the troubleshooter by doing the following:

Did this fix the Office 16 won’t print problem? If not, try the next solution.

Solution 6: Clear spooler files and restart spooler service

Here’s how to do this:

That clears the spooler files, so now restart the spooler service using the steps below:

Check if you can print after doing the above. If not, try another solution.

Solution 7: Disable Print in background

Take the steps below to do this:

Solution 8: Print in clean boot mode

Performing a clean boot for your computer reduces conflicts related to software that can bring up the root causes of the video streaming failure. These conflicts can be caused by applications and services that start up and run in the background whenever you start Windows normally.

Here’s how to perform a clean boot before printing:

In order to successfully perform a clean boot on Windows 10, you have to be logged on as the administrator, then follow these steps:

You will have a clean boot environment after all these steps are carefully followed, after which you can try and check if Office 2016 won’t print problem is gone.

Solution 9: Try printing in WordPad or other programs

The cause of the Office 2016 won’t print problem may be revealed by its scope. Some may only affect Word, others may affect several, or all Windows-based programs.

You can try to print in other programs as described below and see if it helps:

Test with WordPad:

Once you finish this test with WordPad, test the print function in your browser or other Office 2016 programs, then print a test page.

If you cannot print a test page, or can’t print in several Windows programs, then the problem is with the printer driver, Windows OS, hardware or connectivity issues.

Otherwise, if it is with a font, then a damaged font file may be causing the Office 2016 won’t print problem.

However, if you actually get to print in other programs except for Word, try the next solution.

Solution 10: Try printing with different drivers

Word program is printer-intensive, so any issues with printer drivers affects it first before affecting other programs.

If you want to know whether the printer driver is the cause of the Office 2016 won’t print problem, test different drivers. If the printing issue is caused when you print documents with a particular font or graphics, try another printer.

If you don’t have another printer, contact the device’s manufacture to check if there is an updated driver version, or adifferent driver for your printer model. If the problem occurs when you print documents with text only, try using a text-only printer driver to test printing from Office 16.

If the Office 16 won’t print problem persists, try the next solution.

Solution 11: Run Detect and Repair

If you still experience the Office 2016 won’t print issue, run Detect and Repair to reinstall missing or damaged program files.

Use the steps below to do this:

Solution 12: Boot in Safe Mode then test printing

Safe mode starts up your computer with limited files and drivers but Windows will still run. To know whether you’re on Safe mode, you’ll see the words at the corners of your screen.

If the Office 2016 won’t print issue persists, check whether it occurs while your computer is in Safe mode.

There are two versions:

The two are similar, though the latter includes network drivers and other services necessary to access the web and other computers in the same network.

Follow these steps to start your computer in Safe Mode:

A quicker way to get into Safe Mode is to restart your computer then do the following:

Once you’re in Safe Mode, test printing your document.

If the Office 2016 won’t print problem isn’t there while in Safe mode, then your default settings and basic drivers are not contributing to the issue.

Once you’re through and the Office 2016 won’t print issue is sorted, exit safe mode so you can get your computer back to normal mode.

How to exit Safe Mode:

Let us know if any of the above solutions helped fix the Office 2016 won’t print problem. Share with us your experience in the comments section below.

Office 2016 won’t print [FIX]#

Office 2016 won’t print: How to fix this issue#

Solution 1: Check if your printer is listed underUnspecified Devicestate#

Solution 2: Test printing in other documents#

Solution 3: Uninstall and reinstall your printer#

Solution 4: Update printer drivers#

Solution 5: Run the printing troubleshooter#

Solution 6: Clear spooler files and restart spooler service#

Solution 7: Disable Print in background#

Solution 8: Print in clean boot mode#

Solution 9: Try printing in WordPad or other programs#

Solution 10: Try printing with different drivers#

Solution 11: Run Detect and Repair#

Solution 12: Boot in Safe Mode then test printing#