Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Printing via Macro without Messages.

Printing via Macro without Messages

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 23, 2025)

Vidar is trying to print a Word document by automation. When printing, Word interrupts the print job, displaying a dialog box that indicates the document is too wide for the selected printer and asking if it should be printed anyway. Vidar wonders if there is a way to suppress this notification programmatically and always print anyway.

Perhaps the easiest way is to simply turn off notifications just before you start to print. Simply add this line to your macro:

Application.DisplayAlerts = False

This turns off the alerts (in this case, the unwanted dialog box). You can later, after the printing is done, set the DisplayAlerts property back to True so that regular notifications occur.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11573) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Printing via Macro without Messages.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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