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How do I get a document to stop connecting to a printer when it first opens because Microsoft Word stops responding?

When I tried to open up a document in Microsoft Word it opens and then the screen freezes when I try to click around through the document. At the top it will say that "Microsoft Word is not responding", but I also noticed that at the bottom it said "connecting to printer. Press ESC to stop." So I press ESC and the document comes back and it is fine to click around. I just want to know how I can get the documents to stop connecting immediately to the printer so that there is no "freezing" involved. 
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Answer

Word will always keep track of the default printer. If your physical printer isn't available, you can set the Microsoft XPS Document Writer (or a PDF "printer") as the default in Windows.

It is only when you actually need to print that you have to select (the driver for) an actual printer.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
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You are welcome. You may have to exit and restart Word to ensure that all documents "point to" the new default printer.

Most people don't realize just how much Word depends on a locally installed printer driver. Nowadays, most computers do have some sort of printer driver installed which improves the situation. With older computers, and older versions of Word, crashes were very common when there was no driver present. See (for example) the Printer Problems section in the article at http://word.mvps.org/faqs/apperrors/problemsstartingword.htm.
Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~~

2 people found this reply helpful

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Last updated May 13, 2024 Views 27,015 Applies to: