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GMulhern's avatar
GMulhern
Copper Contributor
May 16, 2025

File >Print experience from 365 web apps (other than Excel)

Are there plans to bring the same File >Print experience from the Excel web app to the other 365 web apps (e.g. Word) for printing to universal print cloud printers?

Choosing the print option from Excel produces a sidebar with a drop-down selector that shows every Universal printer the user has access to. There's no need to add the printer to the host OS first.

In contrast, choosing File >Print from the Word web app renders a PDF and then uses the browser's native print UI to select from a choice of local-only printers. There is no option to access cloud printers unless they've first been added to the local system. On a Windows device this is merely an inconvenience but on a ChromeOS device this means the difference between being able to print and not.

There is a work around available, you can use the OneDrive web client to print a Word document. The OneDrive web client does at least offer the ability to search for (and print to) any the Universal printers you have access to, and does not first require they be configured as local printer. But the UI is objectively worse than the Excel print UI which will show you your entire list of available printers. The OneDrive web client requires that you know a portion of the device name to first perform a search for it. The Word web app doesn't even give you that option, there's no option to print to a cloud printer.

The Excel print UI needs to be incorporated into any/all of the 365 web apps that support printing.

1 Reply

  • RemyThatcher's avatar
    RemyThatcher
    Iron Contributor

    While I don’t have access to internal product roadmaps or future plans, your feedback aligns with ongoing industry trends emphasizing seamless cloud integration and device-agnostic workflows. Microsoft has been gradually improving web app features, and the desire for a consistent, user-friendly print experience across all Office web apps is a common user request.

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