Printing a Word document often requires a clean, comment-free output. Whether you're sharing a document with a client, submitting work for review, or simply want a neat printed copy, knowing how to hide comments before printing is crucial. This guide will walk you through several efficient methods to achieve this, ensuring you get the perfect printout every time.
Understanding the Need to Hide Comments
Before diving into the solutions, let's understand why hiding comments before printing is important. Comments, while invaluable during the editing process, can clutter a printed document, making it less professional and harder to read. Hidden comments remain within the document for future reference but are invisible on the printed page. This preserves the integrity of your final document while keeping all your notes intact.
Method 1: Using the Print Options Directly
This is the simplest and most direct way to hide comments when printing your Word document.
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Open your Word document. Locate the document containing the comments you wish to exclude from your printed copy.
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Access the Print menu: Click on "File" and then select "Print."
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Locate "Print What": In the print settings, look for a section labeled "Print What," "Pages," or similar. You might need to expand the options to see it.
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Select "Document": Choose the "Document" option from the dropdown menu. This ensures that only the main document text is printed, excluding comments, headers, footers, and other annotations.
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Click "Print": Once you have selected "Document," click "Print" to initiate the printing process. Your document will now print without any comments included.
Method 2: Utilizing the "Print Preview" Feature
The print preview function allows you to visually check your document before printing, ensuring that comments are indeed hidden.
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Open your document and navigate to the "File" menu.
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Select "Print."
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Click "Print Preview." This displays a preview of your printed document. Carefully examine the preview to confirm that no comments are visible.
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If comments are visible, return to the print settings. Check that you have selected the correct option (as described in Method 1) to ensure comments are excluded.
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Once satisfied, click "Print."
Method 3: Hiding Comments Before Printing (for future use)
This method is best if you frequently need to print comment-free documents. By hiding the comments within the document itself, you don't need to adjust print settings each time.
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Navigate to the "Review" tab.
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Click on "Show Markup." In the dropdown menu, select "No Markup." This will hide all comments and other markings in your document.
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Print your document. As the comments are already hidden within the document itself, the printed version will be comment-free.
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To show comments again, repeat the steps above, but select the desired markup option from the "Show Markup" dropdown.
Troubleshooting and FAQs
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Comments still appear after selecting "Document": Ensure that you've selected "Document" and not another option in the "Print What" section of your print settings.
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Where is the "Print What" option?: The exact location and wording of the print settings may vary slightly depending on your Word version. Look for options related to "Print What," "Pages to print," or similar terminology.
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My comments are crucial information; I need them printed! If you require certain comments to be printed, consider selecting and copying them into the main text before printing, or using a different printing method.
By following these methods, you can efficiently learn how to hide comments on a Word document when printing, ensuring your printed documents are clean, professional, and free from unwanted annotations. Remember to always preview your document before printing to confirm the desired outcome.
