Printing the Navigation Pane

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 22, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Ben likes using the Navigation pane in Word. He wonders if there is a way to print the contents (and just the contents) of the Navigation pane.

There is no built-in method to do this in Word. The best you can do is to use a screen-capture utility to grab an image of the screen which you can later print. Of course, if your document is long and the wording in the Navigation pane scrolls beyond the bottom of the screen, you'll want to make sure that the screen-capture utility you select can handle scrolling windows. (There are many that can do this, such as SnagIt from Techsmith.)

There is one other approach, and its acceptability depends on why you wanted to print the Navigation pane in the first place. If your desire was to simply get a printout of the outline of your document, there are better ways to do that. Most notably you can display the outline on screen (click the Outline View icon on the status bar or click Outline from the View tab of the ribbon), adjust the display so that whatever headings you want are displayed, and then print. You end up with an outline that has the same content that was in the Navigation pane, even if it is not formatted the same way as it would have been in the Navigation pane.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11878) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Understanding the Drawing Canvas

Need to keep your drawing shapes together in one place? The drawing canvas may be exactly what you are looking for.

Discover More

Securing Your Signature

If you want to "sign" your documents, you might be tempted to insert a graphic scan of your signature into them. Before ...

Discover More

Understanding WordArt

One of the small graphical features provided with Word is the ability to apply artistic treatment to words or phrases. ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Printing Images Based on Hidden Text Setting

When you print your document, the images in the document are normally printed. What if you want only some of your images ...

Discover More

Printing Non-Printing Characters

Serious users of Word often display non-printing characters on-screen so they can see them easier. If you want those ...

Discover More

Printing Show/Hide Characters

Non-printing characters are very handy to view when editing a document. But what if you want those characters to no ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 7 - 7?

2022-03-02 09:54:02

Marcello

You can create a Table of Contents using the outline headings and then copy or print the toc page.

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.