How-To

How to Print Without Comments or Markup in Microsoft Word

By Sandy Writtenhouse

Updated November 4, 2022

If you have a document in Microsoft Word that you want to print without markup or comments, you have two easy ways to do it.

When you collaborate with others on a Microsoft Word document, you likely use the Track Changes feature. This feature is fantastic for collaborating on a document as you can see all the edits from co-authors. However, when you print the document, you usually don’t want to see all the markups and comments—especially if they are confidential.

There are two simple ways to print your Word document without comments or markup. You can either adjust the print settings when you’re ready to print or turn off the markup ahead of time. If you want to print without comments or markup in Word, here’s what you’ll need to do.

How to Turn Off Markup in the Print Settings

For the simplest way to print your document without comments or markup, you’ll head to your print settings.

To do this:

1. Click File in the menu and select Print.
2. In the drop-down box directly below Settings, you should see the pages you can print. Click that arrow to display the settings.
3. Go toward the bottom of the list and pick Print Markup to deselect it. You should see the checkmark next to it disappear.

The markup and comment indicators should be gone when you look at your print preview on the right. This does not affect them from displaying in your actual document, but they won’t appear in your printed document.

How to Turn Off Markup in the Document

If you prefer to disable the markup and comments in your document ahead of time, this is another option. This will not remove those items, but it will hide them temporarily.

To do this:

1. Go to the Review tab and Tracking section of the ribbon.
2. Click the drop-down box at the top of that area—this likely shows either All Markup or Simple Markup.
3. Select the No Markup option.

At this point, all tracked changes and comments should vanish from the document. You can then head to File > Print if you’re ready to print your document.

After you print, you can re-enable the markup and comments by heading back to the Tracking section on the Review tab. Click that drop-down box once more and pick All Markup or Simple Markup, depending on your preference.

Print Without Markup in Word

Printing without comments or markup in Word allows you to prepare a print-ready document. After all, there’s no reason to view all changes and comments when you’re printing unless you need to do so. Alternatively, you could decide to print only the comments in Word so that you can review those separately.

For more, take a look at how to create and print envelopes or how to print a Word document background color.