MS Outlook 2007 takes 20-25 seconds to queue print job.

[Reinie]

When I click the print icon for an email message in Outlook 2007, Office
basic, on XP SP2 with a Dell Vostro, it takes 20-25 seconds to complete
queuing to a network printer (attached to a W98 machine on the LAN). IE on
the Vostro, and other apps, take seconds to queue. The previous machine, an
old clunker with W98SE took seconds to queue with Outlook 97.
While waiting for the queuing to complete, a window may appear for a second
or two that says "connecting to printer". 5 to 10 seconds later, the same
"connecting to printer" window may again appear for a second or two, then,
just prior to queuing the job, the window that you normally get when you go
to file->print appears for a second or two, goes away, and I again have
control (can do other work than wait).
The same process repeats for the next email I print, even if it's only
seconds later that I ask for it to be printed.
Any ideas out there? None of the other apps behave this way, and I do not
have anything set to wait for print jobs to complete. As soon as a job is
queued I can continue working, and the printing complete later.

 

[Grant - CNW]

I am having similar problems with Outlook 2007 on Vista Ultimate x64... but
in my case it takes approximately 60 seconds before the email will print,
either when printed while viewing the email OR if printed from INBOX.
Extremely frustrating as it takes FOREVER to get work done... all other
applications under Vista print normally. Printing to an HP Colour LaserJet
2605dn... simplex or duplex operation does not matter... on a network/TCPIP
port. Some timeout settings for Vista registry to tweak delay? Or issue
with HP printer driver? I also understand there are print issues from Vista
to USB-based HP printers...

ANY IDEAS? Any Office MVPs monitoring this forum?

Thanks in advance...Grant

 

[Grant - CNW]

I found the solution to my problem...

It appears to be a defect in Outlook's spooling to XP/Vista driver....
Here are two workarounds I discovered:

(1) Look at the properties of your LAN and/or Wireless Network connection(s)
that you use to connect to your network printer... disable (uncheck) the
TCP/IP v6 protocol (leaving TCP/IP v4). Save and close the network
settings. You should be able to print much faster now. Some
implementations of XP had TCPIP v6 installed with updates... so this might
be your case... just disable it.

(2) Create a LOCAL version of your network printer. Go to the PROPERTIES
of your network printer driver... enable print sharing. Note your computer
name (eg. MyPC) and the share name (eg. MyPRINTER). Go to PRINTERS folder
under CONTROL PANEL and ADD a new printer, ADD A LOCAL, CREATE A NEW PORT:
LOCAL PORT,
and specify PORT NAME as "\\MyPC\MyPRINTER" (modify for your environment).
Choose to use the existing printer settings... Save and close. Fooling the
OS and Outlook that this is a local printer, seems to work also. Note that
in your print queue you will see it spooling a "downlevel print document"
.... not sure if anything is lost in this translation... but if it works...
until they can fix it...

You might also want to look at your printer's manufacturer's website for
latest drivers available... especially for Vista x86/x64 support!

Regards... Grant - CNW

 

[Reinie]

I found that my setting included TCP/IP V6, however, disabling it did not
help, even after rebooting.
My printer was already set up as you suggested in item 2.

The problem appears to also exist for MS Word, and I haven't tried Excel.
How do I move a thread from Outlook 2007 to Office 2007?

Also, if I print a second email within seconds (less than 5) of the first
email, it may print much quicker.