Project 1: Word Basics
Pre-Print

Once you've gone to the trouble to create a document, you probably will want to print it. To save yourself a lot of aggravation, take the trouble to check a few things before you actually press that Print button.

The Print button  on the Standard toolbar in Word uses the current settings to start printing immediately. You do not get the chance to even see what those settings are. Instead of the button, use the Print command on the File menu unless you are VERY sure what Word will do.

Pre-Print Checklist:

• Content: Read the document one last time from start to finish.
  Is it all there? Does it make sense?
• Header and Footer: Displaying correctly?
• Spelling and Grammar
• Page Setup: margins, paper size, orientation.
• Print Preview: Number of pages? Alignments? Formatting?
• Save before printing!
• Printer: Check the settings in the following dialogs-
  
  • Print dialog
  • Printer Properties dialog
  • Options dialog - Print tab.

Content - Read it!

It is amazing what can happen when you turn your back on your computer. You can delete whole sections of a document, move paragraphs to inside other paragraphs, lose formatting, move images to the wrong pages - all without realizing it, until you read the document from the beginning.

Often such errors occur because you selected more material than you realized. Then, your actions were applied to parts you didn't intend to include. If some of the selected material is actually on another page, you might not be able to see what happens, even if you were carefully studying your screen the whole time! Whoops indeed.

So, it is very important that you actually read your document again before committing it to print.

~~  1 Cor. 10:31 ...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  ~~

Last updated: 30 Apr 2012