Selecting Printer for only one file in MS Office

On my network I have access to several printers, local, high speed, color, etc. I usually use my local, but occasionally use the color or high speed. When I select the printer using the printer selection feature in the print screen, the selected printer becomes my default printer for all MS Office applications until I manually change it.

Is it possible to set a document to print on a printer other than the default without temporarily changing the default printer for all applications?

 

Not sure exactly what is going on with your system.

I just tried (XP-Pro and Office 2002 SP2) from Office, Excel, Word and selecting a different printer for a job didn't change my default printer.

Granted, this was all network printers since I don't have any local ones available but I don't remember that behavior.

Ctrl-P, pick a printer, click Print and it should send the job without changing your settings.

 

Just tried it again -same result

I just printed your respnse - selecting a network printer. I then changed to another to another page and went to print it. It defaulted to the same network printer, not my default printer.

This is what I meant.

 

I'm afraid I won't be any help on this one but I wanted to let you know that the same thing happens here. It doesn't actually change the default printer but once you choose to print to a different printer the new printer remains selected until you either select another printer or until you log off the network and log back on again. A bit of an annoyance at times for which I can't seem to find a solution.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if there is a solution.

 

Ken - I'm not doubting what is happening to you. Just sort of at a loss right now since it's a behavior I don't recall ever seeing or hearing about.

One possibility - if you print from an application (browser, word, excel, whatever) and change away from the default printer, you have basically established a new default for that application for that session. Closing and reopening the application should set things back to your system default printer.

If what you are seeing is a permanent change in the default printer for all applications, then I'm stuck.

 

Ken,

Any chance of posting a screen dump of the window you use to select the printer. I think that may be insightful to those of us who share Newt's confusion.

You can grab an image of the window by using an <ALT><PRINT SCREEN> key stroke, or using <PRINT SCREEN> on its own and pasting the captured image into a graphics program where you can crop it down to just the window in question.

I have to admit I haven't inserted a picture into a posting on this board, but if you don't know how to do it I am sure either Newt or one of the other admins can tell you how.

 

Selecting Printer

Newt has it correct. It only temporarily changes the default for that application. I guess that I multitask too much and leave an app open after I print, do something else, then go back to the earlier app I printed on an alternate printer.

I can either remember to change it back, or build a macro that does it automatically.

Thanks, everyone.

ken

 

Attaching a picture directly to the post is only available for Contributing Members and Staff. Otherwise you have to post a link to the pic and the forum won't accept img tags so gotta be just a URL link.

If someone really needs a picture put into a post for clarity, feel free to email me a copy with details about where you want it and I'll post it for you.