Won't switch back to default printer. Please help me!

[Swiss Miss]

Hi,
I have a problem, and that is that when I am using MS Word and print
NOT to my default printer, (eg. winfax) it will not switch back to the
default printer unless I close all programs that are running. (for
example I always have Outlook open and unless I close that it won't
switch back to my default printer.)
I am running Window XP.
If anyone can help me I would be forever grateful.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

Hi,
I have a problem, and that is that when I am using MS Word and print
NOT to my default printer, (eg. winfax) it will not switch back to the
default printer unless I close all programs that are running. (for
example I always have Outlook open and unless I close that it won't
switch back to my default printer.)
I am running Window XP.
If anyone can help me I would be forever grateful.

The only way to fix it is to tell Outlook to NOT use Word as your e-mail
editor. The problem is that Outlook holds a copy of Word open in memory as
long as it's running, or at least after the first time the editor/viewer
is opened. You could use Task Manager (right-click start bar and click on
Task Manager), go to processes, click on winword.exe, and 'End Process'
it, but that is not recommended. Word keeps several files open in a
temporary directory, and if you kill it like that, those files never get
deleted and will clog up your computer over time.

 

[Swiss Miss]

[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

Hi,
I have a problem, and that is that when I am using MS Word and print
NOT to my default printer, (eg. winfax) it will not switch back to the
default printer unless I close all programs that are running. (for
example I always have Outlook open and unless I close that it won't
switch back to my default printer.)
I am running Window XP.
If anyone can help me I would be forever grateful.

The only way to fix it is to tell Outlook to NOT use Word as your e-mail
editor. The problem is that Outlook holds a copy of Word open in memory as
long as it's running, or at least after the first time the editor/viewer
is opened. You could use Task Manager (right-click start bar and click on
Task Manager), go to processes, click on winword.exe, and 'End Process'
it, but that is not recommended. Word keeps several files open in a
temporary directory, and if you kill it like that, those files never get
deleted and will clog up your computer over time.

Thanks for your answer,

I have always had word as my email editor, and have not had a problem
before. Just from one day to the next I noticed that it was not
switching back to the default printer...... Is there any thing else
that can cause that to happen?