Unwanted Cover Pages with Print Jobs

Kaye has a new laptop. When she chooses to print a document, a cover sheet prints first. It lists the filename, directory, template, title, subject, author, and more. This sheet prints with every document printed. When she wants to print more than one page, it prints before each page. She wonders how to turn this off, as it is using a lot of printer ink.

When you start getting extra cover pages like this, there are really three things to check. First, you should check if your printer driver has a cover-sheet capability. You do this by displaying the Properties dialog box for your printer. Do this in Windows, not in Word. (If you are using Windows Vista, click the Start button, click Control Panel, and then click Printer. If you are using Windows 7, click the Start button and then click Devices and Printers. If you are using Windows 8, click the Windows icon, click Control Panel, and then click View Devices and Printers. If you are using Windows 10, type "control panel" [without the quotes] and press Enter and then click View Devices and Printers.) Right-click the printer's icon and choose Printer Properties from the resulting Context menu. You'll see the printer's Properties dialog box, and you should make sure that the Advanced tab is displayed. The tab will look different for different printers, but on some printers, there is a Separator Page button. Click the button and Window displays the Separator Page dialog box. Make sure there is nothing specified for a separator page, and then click OK.

If this doesn't cure the problem, then move on to the second place to check. This has to do with whether document properties are printed by Word with your document. To check and turn off this setting, follow these steps:

1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. Click the Display option at the left side of the dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Display options of the Word Options dialog box.

3. Make sure the Print Document Properties check box is cleared.
4. Click on OK.

If this still doesn't do the trick, then there is one last thing to try. Some printers have the capability to automatically add cover pages or separator pages between print jobs. (Large network printers in offices often do this.) You control this capability by using the setup functions on the printer itself. You may need to do some exploring and poking about in the setup menus, but you may very well find that the printer has this capability turned on. Use the setup menus for the printer to turn the feature off, and then try printing again.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5935) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Unwanted Cover Pages with Print Jobs.