Why is Word printing each character on top of the last one?

[turtlemoose]

When I type a letter or other document (in Word only) then hit print... it
changes both on screen and on the printout to each character on top of the
last one. So basically, down the left hand side of the page, is one black
blob per line, where each letter has been printed on top of the last one! any
ideas?

 

[Big Dave UK]

Haven't seen that exact issue, but it sounds like a printer driver problem to
me. You could see if that's the case by trying to print elsewhere, or even
print to a file.

 

[turtlemoose]

Big Dave,
Thanks for your response. I don't think it IS a printer driver problem, as
it does not happen all the time, only a few times out of many letters.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Turtlemoose,

It's a bug that gets reported from time to time but there hasn't been enough detail or reports of it to track down the cause.

It's apparently a glitch that causes
Word 2003 to lose track of the printer it's supposed to be
using (as listed in File=>Print) that relates to temp files
and, it appears, having add-ins in Word.

Workaround
=============
Going to File=>Print and
changing the printer to another one (and back)
will often clear it temporarily.

Cleanup
==============
If that works please let us know what happens if you
1. Set Word to use the correct printer
2. Close Word.
3. Cleanup and delete all left over
Word temp files using Start=>Search and the
search string of
~$*.*;*.tmp
(what files were found in that search)?

4. Restart Word and open the same document you were
working on.

Feedback
==========
a. Do you have the MS Remove Hidden(personal) Data [RHD]
add-in installed or another Addin in Word?
(Tools=>Templates and Add-ins)

b. Printer make and Model?
c. Build # of Word 2003 from Help/About?

===========
Big Dave,
Thanks for your response. I don't think it IS a printer driver problem, as
it does not happen all the time, only a few times out of many letters. >>