Fix Word Page Border Art Not Printing on Specific Printer Drivers

You have added decorative page border art in Word, but the border does not appear when you print the document on a specific printer. The border displays correctly on screen and may print correctly on other printers. This problem occurs because certain printer drivers handle graphics and border rendering differently than the Word rendering engine expects. This article explains why specific printer drivers cause border art to be omitted and provides step-by-step fixes to force Word to send the border art to the printer correctly.

Why Specific Printer Drivers Drop Word Page Border Art

Word page borders that use art graphics are rendered as a series of small bitmap images repeated along each edge of the page. When Word sends a print job, it converts the border art into a GDI (Graphics Device Interface) command stream that the printer driver interprets. Some printer drivers, especially older or generic PCL6 and PostScript drivers, do not fully support the GDI commands that Word uses for repeating bitmap borders. The driver may skip the border entirely, print it as a solid line, or substitute a different graphic.

The issue is most common with network printers that use vendor-specific drivers rather than the Microsoft Universal Print driver. Printer drivers that use host-based processing, where the computer does the rendering instead of the printer, can also fail to handle the border art because the rendering engine on the host does not match Word’s internal layout. The border art may print correctly on a local printer with a full-featured driver but fail on a shared office printer with a stripped-down driver.

Additionally, Word’s default setting for background graphics is turned off. Even though the border art is technically a page border, Word treats it as a background element for printing purposes. If the printer driver does not request background graphics, Word omits the border from the print data stream.

Step-by-Step Fixes for Border Art Not Printing

The fixes below address the three most common causes: background printing disabled, border margin outside the printable area, and driver incompatibility. Apply them in the order shown. Test after each fix before moving to the next.

Fix 1: Enable Background Printing in Word Options

1. Open Word Options
   Click File in the top-left corner. Select Options at the bottom of the left pane. The Word Options dialog opens.
2. Go to the Display tab
   In the Word Options dialog, click Display in the left column. This section controls what Word shows and prints.
3. Enable background printing
   Under Printing options at the top of the right pane, check the box labeled Print background colors and images. This tells Word to include the border art in the print output even though it is a background graphic.
4. Click OK and test print
   Click OK to save the change. Open the document with the border art and press Ctrl+P. Print one page to verify the border appears on paper.

Fix 2: Adjust Border Margins to Fit the Printable Area

1. Open Page Borders dialog
   In the document, go to the Design tab. In the Page Background group, click Page Borders. The Borders and Shading dialog appears with the Page Border tab selected.
2. Open border options
   In the lower-right corner of the dialog, click Options. The Border and Shading Options dialog opens.
3. Change measurement from
   In the Measure from drop-down list, select Edge of page instead of Text. This sets the border position relative to the physical page edge.
4. Increase the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins
   In the Margin section, increase each value to at least 24 points. Most printers require a minimum of 0.25 inches (18 points) from the edge. Using 24 points ensures the border art stays inside the printer’s non-printable zone.
5. Click OK twice and test print
   Click OK in the Border and Shading Options dialog, then click OK in the Borders and Shading dialog. Print a test page.

Fix 3: Print to PDF First, Then Print the PDF

1. Open the Print dialog
   Press Ctrl+P or go to File > Print.
2. Select Microsoft Print to PDF
   In the Printer drop-down list, choose Microsoft Print to PDF. This virtual printer creates a PDF file instead of sending data directly to the physical printer.
3. Click Print and save the PDF
   Click the Print button. In the Save Print Output As dialog, choose a location and file name. Click Save. The PDF opens automatically in your default PDF viewer.
4. Print the PDF from the viewer
   In the PDF viewer, press Ctrl+P. Select your physical printer from the printer list. Click Print. The border art now renders through the PDF engine, which handles the graphics independently of the Word printer driver.

Fix 4: Update or Replace the Printer Driver

1. Identify the current driver
   Open Control Panel > Devices and Printers. Right-click your printer and select Printer Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and note the driver name under Driver. Write it down.
2. Download the latest driver from the manufacturer
   Go to the printer manufacturer’s support website. Search for your printer model. Download the latest full-feature driver for your version of Windows. Avoid generic or PCL6 mini-drivers if a full driver is available.
3. Install the new driver
   Run the installer. Follow the on-screen prompts. If prompted, choose Replace current driver. Restart your computer after installation.
4. Test print the border art
   Open the document in Word. Press Ctrl+P and print one page. The updated driver should now support the GDI commands needed for border art.

If Word Still Has Issues After the Main Fix

Border Art Prints as a Solid Black Box

This indicates the printer driver is substituting the bitmap art with a solid fill. The fix is to switch to a different border art style. In the Borders and Shading dialog, on the Page Border tab, scroll through the Art list and select a different art style. Some art styles use simpler patterns that older drivers can handle. Also try reducing the Width setting to 12 points or lower.

Border Art Prints on Some Pages but Not Others

Word applies page borders to specific sections. If your document has multiple sections, the border may not be applied to all sections. Go to the Design tab, click Page Borders, and in the Apply to drop-down list, select Whole document. If you need different borders per section, apply the border separately in each section by placing the cursor in that section and repeating the steps.

Border Art Disappears When Saving as PDF from Word

Word’s built-in Save as PDF feature may also drop border art when using certain printer drivers as the PDF engine. Instead, use the Print to PDF method described in Fix 3. Alternatively, install a third-party PDF printer like Adobe PDF or Foxit PDF Printer, which handle border art more reliably.

Word Page Border Art Settings vs Printer Driver Settings

Item	Word Setting	Printer Driver Setting
Background graphics	File > Options > Display > Print background colors and images	Driver-specific; often no equivalent setting
Border margin	Design > Page Borders > Options > Measure from Edge of page	Printable area defined by driver; cannot be changed in driver
Graphic rendering	Uses GDI bitmap commands	Full driver supports GDI; PCL6 mini-driver may not
Fallback method	Print to PDF bypasses Word driver	PDF viewer uses its own rendering engine

The table above summarizes the two layers that control border art printing. The Word setting must allow background graphics, and the printer driver must support the GDI commands for repeating bitmaps. If either layer fails, the border will not print.

You can now identify why a specific printer driver drops Word page border art and apply the correct fix. Start by enabling Print background colors and images in Word Options. If that does not work, adjust the border margins or print to PDF first. For persistent issues, update the printer driver to a full-featured version. An advanced tip: create a custom page border using a single large image inserted as a watermark instead of Word’s built-in art. This bypasses the repeating-bitmap GDI commands entirely and prints reliably on any driver.