HP printer not printing Word/Excel text or numbers but images are OK

[Teabagsmum]

We have a HP Photosmart 5520 printer that has suddenly stopped printing text/numbers from Word/Excel Docs.

We have uninstalled and re-installed software and it is up to date.

Print Quality diagnostic was  perfect and printed off the text with it OK

Printheads have been cleaned.

Photos, adobe docs, pictures, clip art etc will all print OK.

Text behind Word Art boxes print out OK but anything outside the Word Art box area is not printed.

Tried to print Word doc but printer just runs the paper through very quickly as if it is not seeing the words and spits out a blank pieces of paper.

Word & Excel table borders print off fine.

Went through HP Smart window to print from there and it will not 'see' Word/Excel files stored on my computer to select from.

It's almost as though it does not 'see' or recognise text/numbers from Microsoft files but the pictures/Word Art/Clip Art is OK.

I'd be grateful for any hints and tips to resolve this as I need it urgently to print off my CV

[DavidSMP]

@Teabagsmum,

Good Day. A warm welcome to the HP community. I reviewed the case regarding issues with printing from work correctly while using word art. I will be delighted to assist you with this.

Superb description, brilliant troubleshooting and terrific observations made before posting. Kudos to you for that. 🙂

To assist you with accurate information I would require more information regarding this:

• Did this happen after a recent software (MS office) or Windows update?

For now, try these steps:

• Uninstall the printer from "programs and features" which can be accessed by doing a right-click on the Windows button (Please have the printer Off and disconnected during uninstallation.)
• Check in device manager, if the printer is listed there, please delete it. (Right click on the Windows button to access device manager)
• Go to devices and printers, in control panel and select any printer listed there and you will get some options on the top.
• Click on print server properties.
• You will get a popup, click on the drivers tab and delete all the HP printer drivers listed there if any.
• Delete all the instances of your printer listed in devices and printers.
• Restart the PC.
• Once the PC is on the desktop, press Win + R, it would bring a Run dialog box,
• Type %temp% in the run box and click Ok or hit the Enter button.
• It would bring up the temporary files folder. Delete the files in the folder (You might not be able to delete all the files).
• If possible, delete the printer from the registries using Regedit or using any other 3rd party application.
• Ignore the Regedit option if it cannot be done.
• Restart the PC again.

Then download the latest printer driver from http://hp.care/2y7AzVC  and install it on the computer after selecting the correct operating system.

This should do the trick.

• If it persists, then follow the steps from this link: http://hp.care/2oZdy1f (HP Printers - Changing Font Size in Printed Documents or Web Pages) follow the steps in this option “Word or WordPad documents (Windows)” to resize the font size and check for issue resolution.
• For further assistance please perform these steps from this Microsoft link: http://hp.care/2oZdAGp (Text appears outside the borders of a shape in my SmartArt graphic) This could fix the issue.

You could refer to these other useful links also.

Link 1: http://hp.care/2oXXGfu (How do you lock elements (pictures, text boxes, shapes, etc.)?

Link 2: http://hp.care/2oXXHQA (Rotate or flip a text box, shape, WordArt, or picture)
 

Also try the Windows built-in drivers by following instructions on how to install it from this link: http://hp.care/2o3acvH

Good Luck and keep me posted.

Please perform all these steps patiently as it is critical to resolving the issue. The trick is to remain patient. Going by your technical expertise and competence I am sure you will be able to perform these steps without breaking a sweat.

Hope to hear from you soon. Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great. Please reach out for any issues and I'll be there to assist you.

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help.

If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles.

Take care now and have a splendid week ahead. 🙂

[Teabagsmum]

Thanks for the response David.

In brief:

Followed all your instructions....twice!

Printer still didn't work.

Ended up screwing up the computer completly and had to take it into a Specialist who sorted out the new problems created by trying to sort out the original printer issues.

Result was that the printer was broken (software issue) and is now in the bin. Apparently text and numbers are stored in a seperate  section than images and gridlines etc and this bit of the software in the printer did not work.