Tip of the week # 499
18 November 2016


Only print the selected content of an email message (Microsoft Outlook) *

Back in May 2014 I told you how to print a specific page of an email message, similar to printing, say, the current page of a Word document. (See tip_422.php if you missed it or cannot remember how to do it.) But what if you only want to print part of the whole email trail, not a specific page? I'm afraid Outlook doesn't offer a Print Selection option like Word and Excel. So what I normally do is copy and paste what I want to print in Word and print from there. But there is a nifty workaround in Outlook you might like.

Here's how:

  1. Open the email message, as normal. (It won't work from the Reading Pane.)
  2. On the Message tab, in the Move group, click Actions, followed by View in Browser. (Before you click on View in Browser, you might want to right-click the button and stick it on your Quick Access Toolbar.)
  3. If you get a warning message, click OK. (If you think this step will annoy you in future, I recommend to tick the Do not show this message again check box.)
  4. Select the text you want to print.
  5. Press CTRL + P.
  6. Tick the Selection radio button.
  7. Click on Print or press ENTER.
  8. Press CTRL + W to close the browser window.

But don't forget ... Think before your print. Be green - keep it on the screen.


* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.