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]

@johnpaul 

Hi John Paul, 

This may help in the interim.  I found that the problem occurs for me when I have page numbering in the form 'page x of y'. I get around the problem by having just 'page x'. 

Good luck with your novel.  

Simon 

In more detail, here is how to trigger the problem and how to get around it (but not how to fix it) .
Step 1.
From scratch, create a simple document in Word. For example, the text ‘page One’, a page break, and the text ‘Page Two’.
Insert, Page Number, Bottom of Page, Page X of Y (Bold Numbers 1).
Save the document.
Step 2.
Attempt to print.
Select to print just page 1.
It will not. Nor page 2.
Step 3.
Edit the footer.
Remove page number.
Add page number.
This time, just the plain number. (That is ‘page x’, not ‘page x of y’.)
Save the document.
Step 4.
Attempt to print.
Select to print just page 1.
It prints.
And also for just page 2.

[#3]

thanks

[#4]

@Stefan_Blom

Is there an ongoing support request, which I can follow to see what the status is? This effect just appeared recently.

Cheers
Joël

[#5]

@JoelSchoeni 

Which operating system are you running? This issue is fixed in Word for Windows. Install the most recent updates via File > Options > Update Options > Update Now.

I have no information on Word for Mac, unfortunately.

[#6]

@Stefan_Blom I look forward to getting this fixed on Mac.

[#7]

@Stefan_Blom

It's Windows 10 and Office 365. I have to check, if it's the latest update. Thanks for the reply

[#8]

@Stefan_Blom

The updates solved the Problem. Thanks :)

[#9]

@JoelSchoeni 

I'm glad you got it sorted. Thanks for the follow-up.

[#10]

@Stefan_Blom

Stefan, can you confirm which version of Word contains the fix for this issue?  

[#11]

@jkUAIT 

I believe it was fixed in version 2110 (applies to the Windows version of Office), but I could be wrong. Sorry, I don't remember exacty which version included the fix.

You can check the list of updates yourself; see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel. That link is specifically for (business) subscriptions; however, you'll find updates for perpetual licenses in the list of links on the left hand side of the web page.

[#12]

The problem was fixed with the rollout of version 2110. The problem is now back with version 2111.

Microsoft sucks, but has a near monopoly on office related systems so what can we do but bend over and take it.

[#13]

@Marshall_Law 

In other forums I have seen one or two reports saying that the issue has returned. I haven't been able to reproduce it myself yet, though. I'm running Office 2021 Professional, version 2111.

Do you have a perpetual license or a subscription? 

[#14]

I have an Office 365 business subscription. I had to rollback to build 2110 (version 14527.20276) 64-bit in order to reinstate the ability to print documents by sections or page range. This is now the second time I have had to do a rollback this year, which is problematic since keeping my law firm current on updates for security reasons is important.

[#15]

@Marshall_Law 

I have now tested in my subscription version of Office and I was not able to reproduce the issue there (Microsoft 365 Personal, version 2111).

I don't know what is causing the trouble with your installation. Report it to Microsoft through the Feedback facility. 

[#16]

@Stefan_Blom 
I had a user get back to me today that they were experiencing weird behaviour when printing in Word.

Whenever they would make a selection of pages they would want to print, the job would not be created at all. Luckily I found this thread and had an idea what was going no.

So I got it down to the fact that page-numbering that shows 'from X to Y' is whats bugging it out. Any other page numbering / or none would work.

Version 2111 of Office BTW. So it's still present.

[#17]

I had to roll back my version of Word to the last update for Version 2110.  The interesting thing is the issue did not present itself until the December 15th update for Version 2111; the 2 previous updates of Version 2111 did not present this issue, but when I rolled back to them the printing issue would not go away until I rolled back to Version 2110.  

This is now the second time I have had to do a roll back this year because of this very issue.  Do the programmers not actually use Word (like do a print job, run macros, etc.) after updates to make sure it works?

[#18]

@houtdionar 

In a document with multiple sections and restarted page numbering, you will have to make use of a special syntax (this has been the case since at least 1997). There is a hint in the tooltip for the Custom Print option at File > Print:

To remember the syntax for a custom print, display the "Formatted page number" and "Section" number on the status bar in Word. 

[#19]

@Alestos   I have the same problem, but one of the three computers in the family using Word.  How bizarre is that?

[#20]

@Alestos I have found a fix with this as I was working with an engineer from Microsoft as my MSP pays for support. What you will need to do is change the channel to semi-annual. Once I changed the channel and pushed it through our remote management tool, I was able to fix sectional printing for our end-user. Here is a doc on how to change the update channel: 

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/change-update-channels

It seems like once Microsoft rolls out a new update, we (end-users, techs, etc.) are the ones beta testing for them, so reverting to a previous channel gives them time to fix the more current bugs in their new updates. I hope this helps.

[#21]

Look at my recent response.