Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 17, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365
There may be times when you need to print your document as a "negative." This means that everything is printed the opposite of what it was when created: black is printed as white, and white areas are printed as black. This is particularly helpful if you are doing camera work with your output. Other times you may need to print a mirror image of your output, which is helpful if you are creating output for phototransfer processes or for silk screening.
There are a couple of ways you can create negative output, and all of them have to do with your printer driver. Finding the right combination of commands to do the trick may take a little digging, and it may vary depending on the type of printer you have. The key factor here, though, is that your printer must use a PostScript driver. Here's what should work, provided you have that type of driver:
Once these settings are changed, they remain changed during your current usage of Word, until you explicitly change them back.
In reality, the steps you follow don't really matter that much. What matters is the capabilities of your printer. You need to display the Properties dialog box for your printer driver (steps 1 through 3, above) and then find the controls in the dialog box that control the negative and mirror imaging. If you can't find any such controls, then chances are good that your printer won't handle doing reversed images and you may need to use a different printer.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8098) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Printing Reversed Images.
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