On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:08:02 -0700, Afonso Loureiro <Afonso
When printing a multi-page document on Word 2007, data is only sent to the
printer if the application retains focus, that is, if one starts using
another program, Word will stop send data to the printer.
This way, you can't do anything else while waiting for a document to print.
If it is 200 pages long, goodbye multitasking. it's very annoying.
What's wrong?
Windows should always be running a program called a "print spooler
service". The purpose of this is to take the output of any print run,
such as from Word, and quickly store it in a temporary disk file. As
soon as that file is complete, the printing program can do other
things or release control to other programs; the spooler will feed
data to the printer at its slower rate.
It sounds like your spooler service isn't running.
To check this, right-click the Computer item on the Start menu or in
Windows Explorer, and choose Manage. In the management console, expand
the Services and Applications item and click on Services. In the list
on the right, find Print Spooler. It status should be "Started" and
its startup type should be "Automatic" (that is, start up when Windows
starts). If that isn't the case, double-click it to open its
Properties dialog and make it so.
There is also a setting within Word that should be verified. Go to
Office button > Word Options > Advanced, in the Print section, and
make sure the option for "Print in background" is checked. This lets
you continue editing in Word while the document is being sent to the
spooler; however, you'll still have to keep Word in focus until the
spooler receives the whole document (that is, while the printer icon
remains on the status bar). For a 200-page document, even with complex
graphics, that should be no more than 10 seconds or so.
