Blank pages printing in Word and Oultlook

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Question

Blank pages printing in Word and Oultlook

by howardje10 | January 12, 2019 7:03 AM PST

I’m running Windows 10 on my laptop. My Epson-3720 just started printing blank pages in Word, and just a solid black line at the top of Outlook messages, that comes out normally on messages, but nothing else is coming out.

The printer prints test pages ok and copies documents ok, so there’s no problem with the printer cartridges. It’s been printing fine for months and I haven’t installed anything new.

I’ve downloaded new drivers and utilities from Epson, but this didn’t help. I’ve run the printer cleaning procedure several times, and the cartridges have plenty of ink in them.

A weird thing – in the Device Manager, my Epson printer comes up as “Unknown Device”, but my HP printer comes up correctly as an “HP” printer.

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Blank pages printing in Word and Oultlook

by howardje10 | January 13, 2019 6:02 AM PST

In reply to: you installed the wrong driver files

I tried printing to my HP printer and the same thing is happening - printing blank pages. I haven't done anything to this printer in months. Why would Epson problems affect my HP printer? I uninstalled my Epson printer and re-installed from the Epson website - it didn't work. Same thing is happening. And it's still coming up as "Unknown device" in the Device Manager. What else can I try?

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Re: blank pages printing

by Kees_B Forum moderator | January 13, 2019 7:49 AM PST

In reply to: Blank pages printing in Word and Oultlook

If it's wrong in the same way on both the HP and Epson printer, it's unlikely to be related to a printer driver.

More experiments: what happens if you print to pdf (choose Microsofts pdf-printer as output)? Look at the pdf-file with your current pdf-reader (like Adobe or Foxit or even Bing).
- If that's OK, print that pdf-file. Does that print fully?
- If that's blank either, print a random pdf-file that looks good in your pdf-reader. How does it come out?

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Blank pages printing

by howardje10 | January 13, 2019 11:54 AM PST

In reply to: Re: blank pages printing

Hey Kees_B, I did what you suggested and printed a Word document to the pdf printer. It created a pdf file, and I printed it to my Epson printer - and it worked - it printed out the document. But what does that tell me?

I was also able to print anther pdf file. Why would it print pdf's but not Word or Outlook? Is this a Microsoft problem?

Post was last edited on January 13, 2019 11:56 AM PST

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Re: why

by Kees_B Forum moderator | January 13, 2019 11:58 AM PST

In reply to: Blank pages printing

I'm rather sure it all will be fine if you reset Windows 10, reinstall your printer drivers and reinstall MS Office. But if you find that too much work, just use the method that works: print to pdf and then print the pdf.

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Blankp ages printing

by howardje10 | January 15, 2019 1:48 PM PST

In reply to: Re: why

Kees_B - I reset my laptop and this fixed the problem. Thanks for all your help.

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Back to PC Applications forum 8 total posts

score 0 · Answer 1 · January 12, 2019 8:03 AM PST

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Answer

Re: printer

by Kees_B Forum moderator | January 12, 2019 8:03 AM PST

In reply to: Blank pages printing in Word and Oultlook

Install the driver in and connect the printer to another Windows PC or laptop.
- If OK there, it's something in your laptop.
- If not OK there, it's something in the printer.
Then you know what not to change.

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