Fix Word Print Job Splitting Across Multiple Print Jobs Unexpectedly

You send a Word document to the printer, but instead of one print job, the printer queue shows multiple separate jobs for the same document. This often happens with documents that contain multiple sections, different page orientations, or complex headers and footers. Word sends each section as a separate print spool file by default when certain settings are active. This article explains why Word splits print jobs and provides the exact steps to force the document to print as a single job.

Why Word Splits a Single Document Into Multiple Print Jobs

Word sends print data to the Windows print spooler one section at a time when background printing is enabled. Background printing lets you continue editing while printing, but it forces Word to process each section break as a separate spool file. The spooler then treats each spool file as an independent print job.

Documents with many section breaks are the most common cause. Each section can have its own page layout settings like margins, orientation, and paper source. Word must send those settings to the printer for each section individually, which results in multiple jobs. Network printers and shared printers sometimes amplify this behavior because the spooler holds each job until the previous one finishes.

Another cause is the printer driver itself. Some drivers do not support merging multiple spool files into a single job. When Word sends section data as separate spool files, the driver queues them separately. This is more common with older or generic printer drivers that lack advanced job merging capabilities.

Steps to Prevent Word From Splitting Print Jobs

These steps disable background printing, which is the primary cause of split print jobs. You do not need to modify the document itself.

1. Open Word Options
   Click File in the top-left corner of Word. Then click 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 sidebar. Scroll down to the Printing options section.
3. Turn off background printing
   Uncheck the box labeled Print in background. This is the key setting that causes Word to release sections as separate jobs. Click OK to save the change.
4. Verify the Advanced setting
   Open Word Options again. Click Advanced in the left sidebar. Scroll to the Print section. Make sure Print in background is also unchecked here. If it is checked, uncheck it and click OK.
5. Print the document
   Press Ctrl + P to open the Print pane. Click Print. The document should now appear as a single job in the printer queue.

Alternative Method: Use Print to PDF First

If disabling background printing does not stop the splitting, print the document to a PDF file first. Then print the PDF as a single job. This bypasses Word section processing entirely.

1. Open the Print pane
   Press Ctrl + P in Word.
2. Select Microsoft Print to PDF
   In the Printer dropdown, choose Microsoft Print to PDF. Click Print. Choose a save location and name for the PDF file. Click Save.
3. Print the PDF
   Open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader or the Microsoft Edge browser. Press Ctrl + P. Select your physical printer and click Print. The PDF will print as a single job.

If Word Still Splits Print Jobs After the Main Fix

Word Splits Jobs Even With Background Printing Disabled

If the problem continues, the document likely contains section breaks that force Word to send separate print commands regardless of the background printing setting. Open the document and press Ctrl + Shift + 8 to show formatting marks. Look for double dotted lines labeled Section Break. Delete any section breaks that are not needed. For example, if every page has a section break, replace them with page breaks by deleting the section break and pressing Ctrl + Enter.

Printer Driver Causes Job Splitting

Some printer drivers do not merge spool files from the same application. Update the printer driver to the latest version from the manufacturer website. If an update is not available, try using a different printer driver such as the Microsoft Universal Print Driver. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners in Windows 11. Click Add device and choose Add manually. Select Microsoft IPP Class Driver or Microsoft Universal Print Driver from the list.

Network Printer Queues Multiple Jobs

Network printers sometimes queue each spool file separately even when Word sends them as one. Open the printer queue by double-clicking the printer icon in the system tray. Cancel all pending jobs. Then print the document again with background printing disabled. If the network printer still splits the job, ask the network administrator to enable job merging on the print server.

Background Printing On vs Off: Print Job Behavior

Item	Background Printing On	Background Printing Off
Job splitting	Word releases each section as a separate spool file	Word sends the entire document as one spool file
Editing during print	You can edit the document while printing	Word becomes unresponsive until the print job finishes
Print speed	First page prints faster, total time may be longer	Total print time is shorter for large documents
Spool file size	Multiple smaller spool files	One large spool file

Turning off background printing trades the ability to edit during printing for reliable single-job output. For documents with many sections, this trade-off is worth the fix.

You can now prevent Word from splitting a single document into multiple print jobs by disabling background printing. If the issue persists, remove unnecessary section breaks or print to PDF first. For persistent driver problems, update the printer driver or switch to a universal driver. As an advanced tip, you can also use the File > Options > Advanced > Print > Print in background setting as a group policy to apply this fix across all users on a corporate network.