#  Other Applications & Softwares  > Word Formatting & General >  > [SOLVED] Documents created from mail merge won't print

## mgs73

I have a series of documents created from a mail merge, and then split into individual documents. My problem is that the documents will not print - neither the original file produced from the mail merge, nor the individual ones.

If I print to my default printer, a message pops up indicating that the document has been sent to the printer - however it says the document is one page when it is more than that. In any case, zero pages come out of the printer. I've tried on a colleagues computer (who uses a different printer) and got the same result.

Curiously, if I print to PDF, it works fine.

Attached is the file I've been testing with - hope someone can help!

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## macropod

Since the document 'prints' to PDF, a faulty printer and/or printer driver is the most likely problem for your 'real' printer. Try uninstalling & re-installing (preferably with the latest drivers from the maker's website).

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## mgs73

I can print anything else just fine, so it's not the printer. Can you print the attached file?

It seems to be something to do with the section breaks that the mail merge puts in. If I delete the break, it will print ok, but it also messes up the page layout.

If you look at the file I attached in the original post, you can see this behaviour. Try printing as is and nothing happens. Delete the section break at the end of the document, and the file prints, but the whitespace at the top of the page increases for some reason. Doesn't make much difference in the attached file, but it makes a big difference in the real files I'm working with.

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## macropod

I'm not sure that printing your document would prove much regarding the mailmerge. For starters, it has nothing representing a mailmerge main document or a mailmerge's output (assuming it's supposed to be a letter merge, the Section break on the 2nd page should be a 'Next page' one, but it's a 'Continuous' one instead). The reason your page layout goes awry if the Section break is deleted is because it has a different page layout to the first Section - another indicator that, at best, the mailmerge main document is poorly configured.

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## mgs73

The mail merge output was split into individual documents, replacing the Next Page breaks with Continuous breaks to avoid a blank final page.

The document had sensitive information in it, so it was all deleted and replaced by the dummy text in the attached document. It still displays the undesirable behaviour - at least on my PC, and a colleagues PC (different floor, different printer). To add to the mystery, on another colleagues PC on yet another floor and using yet another printer late this afternoon, it all worked ok.

How can I make the page layout on either side of the break the same? I don't understand why they should be different in the first place, as in the original document, all that was after the section break was the next mail merge document.

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## macropod

They're different because you attachment is not an output document from a mailmerge; if it were, there'd be no change in layout after the Section break - which would only ever be a 'next page' one. Evidently, your mailmerge main document'spage layout isn't the same as the template being used by your 'split' process to produce the individual documents. Furthermore, the fact the output document prints on another user's printer is evidence enough the problem isn't with the document itself.

For a better way to produce individual mailmerge output documents, see _Send Mailmerge Output to Individual Files_ in the *Mailmerge Tips and Tricks* thread at:
http://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-m...ps-tricks.html
or:
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/sho...ips-amp-Tricks

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## mgs73

> Furthermore, the fact the output document prints on another user's printer is evidence enough the problem isn't with the document itself.



It printed on one colleague's printer - three out of four PCs would not print.

Happily, running out of toner has solved the mystery. After replacing the cartridge, I looked at the print queue and noticed a dozen or so documents of mine waiting to print. They still wouldn't print, and when I looked closer I found that it was trying to print using Tray 1, which is A3. I checked the printer that did print the document, and its Tray 1 was A4.

I checked my printer settings - everything was automatic, but eventually I found the guilty setting in Page Layout - Paper. For some reason, Paper Source was set to Tray 1 - I changed it to Automatic, and now everything works as expected.

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## macropod

OK, it didn't occur to me ask whether you had checked the basics - like the print setup, whether there was paper/toner in the printer, etc., etc. Those kinds of things one would expect to have been checked before posting...

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