Adding a “Print Preview Edit Mode” icon to the QAT in Word 2010

Those of you who have ventured into the brave new world of Word 2010 have discovered that the traditional Print dialog has been replaced by a full-screen version known as “Print Place,” where the left side of the screen provides drop-downs for configuring the print settings and the right side of the screen offers a preview of the current document. (Both File, Print and Ctrl P open Print Place.)

Although the preview available in Print Place is useful — you can zoom in and out and even can display two (or more) pages side by side — you can’t edit the document directly from within the preview.

However, if you miss that functionality, you can add a “Print Preview Edit Mode” icon to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). To do so, right-click the QAT, click “Customize the Quick Access Toolbar,” and when the Options screen appears, click to change the “Choose commands from” drop-down from “Popular” to “All.” Then, in the commands area, scroll about 2/3 of the way down. You’ll see several different Print Preview commands. The one you want is “Print Preview Edit Mode.” Click to select it, click the “Add” button in the middle of the screen, then OK out of the Options to save your settings.

Clicking the icon opens a print preview screen very similar to those in previous versions and produces a context-sensitive Print Preview tab in the Ribbon.

If you find that you can’t click within the document because the mouse pointer turns into a magnifying glass and clicking merely zooms in and out, locate the “Magnifier” command in the Ribbon and click to uncheck it. Once it is unchecked, the mouse pointer should function normally and you should be able to click within and edit the document. (Just don’t forget to save your changes!)

To close out of print preview mode, either (1) click the icon again (it’s a toggle) or (2) click the big red “X” in the Ribbon that is labeled “Close Print Preview.”

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