Printing a range of pages in a multi-section document stopped working

[Alestos]

Hi, we recently encountered problems with printing multi-section documents.

For example:

a document with 3 sections, 10 pages each. I want to print pages from 5 to 15.

Print >Settings > [Custom Print] > Pages: 5-15 > Print. Done.

That always worked but it stopped now. The pages are not printed at all and there is no error message nor anything else.

[Print All Pages] works. [Print Current Page] works. No problems with documents without sections. All other programs print normally as usual.

The only solution I figured so far is to specify section numbers like p5s1-p15s2. But it is tedious and almost impossible with big documents having many sections.

As a workaround it can be printed from a PDF export but there are some minor quality issues. The prints don't look the same.

The same problem appeared on several computers. I don't know exactly when it started. Probably with some updates at the start of the year 2021.

Is it some kind of intentional change or a bug?

Is there any way to just print range of pages regardless of sections?

Version: MS Office Professional Plus 2016 (16.0.13530.20132) 64bit

Thanks.

[#2]

@Alestos 

Note that Word usually requires that you specify both the page and the section numbers when you are printing a range that spans more than one section. That said, recently a bug has been reported that concerns printing page ranges. See I can't print a range of pages with Word Office 365 - Microsoft Community.

[#3]

@Alestos 

The bug with the p#s# syntax should now be fixed. Update Office and restart the programs.

See Problems printing page ranges - Microsoft Community.

[#4]

@Stefan_Blom 

Unfortunately the bug appears to happen again with an update-to-date version:

Microsoft® Word 2016 MSO (16.0.14326.20062) 32-Bit

[#5]

@bbuerger 

That is certainly bad news. :(  Make sure that you report the (new) bug via the feedback facility in Word (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-office-2b102d44-b43f-...).

[#6]

@Alestos 

As reported in the Microsoft Community (see for example https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/microsoft-word-m365-specific-pagecustom-range...), Microsoft has recognized this issue as a bug and it is being investigated. 

[#7]

Hi

I'm writing a novel and thus  I need to print off page ranges to give to agents and publishers. Can you tell me roughly when this page range bug will be sorted?  Thankyou @Stefan_Blom 

[#8]

@johnpaul 

Microsoft has not provided any information on when a fix can be expected.

[#9]

Thanks @Stefan_Blom . I guess selecting a page range than printing is OK but it is annoying that Microsoft charges for something that was written in 1983 and which still has bugs in it.

Word should be free by now.

[#10]

@johnpaul 

Bugs occur all the time in commercial as well as open source software. :)

Apparently, this printing bug turned out to be especially tricky.

[#11]

I'm a developer with 40 years experience  (everything from C++ to voice recognition).

With 100% code coverage and test-driven design, the development team should not have made a BASIC error like this. Printing is a fundamental feature of the application. This bug is a major fail and Microsoft should ideally give users a refund of some sort.

The refund will not happen - I know. The world is not perfect.

 @Stefan_Blom 

[#12]

This is apparently not a new issue.

See this: https://www.howtogeek.com/367996/how-to-print-a-range-of-pages-in-a-multi-section-word-document/

[#13]

@eLundquist 

The bug is certainly new.

What definitely isn't new is that you have to use specific syntax for printing a range of pages that span across multiple sections (see https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Formatting/PrintMultipleSections.htm). 

[#14]

@Stefan_Blom 

This is occurring again for us.  We went through this earlier this year then it was fixed and now it's back.  Mulitple computers (all have been updated and are on the most recent Windows and Office installation versions).  In addition, the problem seems to be occurring in some documents but not others.

Any thoughts?  Thanks in advance.

[#15]

@RalphMalph25 

The bug hasn't been fixed yet. It has been recognized by Microsoft, though, and it is being investigated.

Recently, it has been suggested that enabling "Update fields before printing" works around the issue (see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/word-not-printing-selected-pages-when-page/d4...).

[#16]

As a work around until the bug is solved you can export the pages via File / Export / PDF and print the PDF file afterwards. You can specify a page range in the export options and strange as it may seem there it will work as expected.

Above all I am happy its a bug and not a feature.

[#17]

come on @Loulli  that pdf method ridiculous.

You'd be much better off just highlighting the pages you want then use the selection option on the print menu.

[#18]

This just worked for me. Thanks!

[#19]

@johnpaul 

The problem of highlighting for printing a range is that the footer (where I put page number) doesn't get printed.

[#20]

Hi @Meg_W4 , yes clearly it's not a 100% solution. It's only a temporary workaround. I cant believe that Microsoft makes us pay for this stuff that does not work.

It's appalling corporate behaviour.