How to Print a Google Doc From Chrome

To print a Google Docs file from Chrome, open the document and click File > Print, or press Ctrl + P (Command + P on a Mac). Choose your printer and settings in the print window, then click Print.

These steps are for Google Docs in Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook computers, and they match Google’s Docs printing help and Chrome printing help. Steps for the Docs app on Android, iPhone and iPad, and for other browsers, are in their own sections below.

Before You Start

• A working printer. Set it up on your computer with your printer manufacturer’s instructions first. Chrome uses the printers your computer already knows about.
• Permission to print. If someone shared the file with you, the owner can turn off printing for your role. See the FAQ if Print is missing or grayed out.
• The right layout. Orientation, paper size and margins belong to the document, not the print window. If you need landscape pages or a different paper size, set them in File > Page setup before you print (covered below).

How to Print a Google Doc From Chrome

1. Open your document at docs.google.com in Chrome.
2. Click File > Print, press Ctrl + P (Windows, Linux and Chromebook) or Command + P (Mac), or click the printer icon at the left end of the Docs toolbar. Docs prepares the pages, and Chrome’s print window opens with a preview.
3. Under Destination, choose your printer. If it isn’t listed, open the menu and select See more.
4. Change any settings you need, such as the pages or number of copies.
5. Click Print.

The print window closes and the document goes to your printer. For a long document, Docs may take a few seconds to build the preview before the settings respond.

Choose Your Print Settings

Chrome’s print window shows a preview on one side and settings on the other. The exact options depend on your printer, but you’ll usually see these:

Setting	What it does
Destination	The printer to use, or Save as PDF to make a file instead. Google Cloud Print destinations are gone, so see what replaced Google Cloud Print in Chrome if you used one.
Pages	All, or Custom with a range such as 1-3 or 2,5,8. Some printers also offer odd-only or even-only pages.
Copies	How many copies to print. With more than one, Collate keeps each set in page order.
Color	Color or Black and white, if your printer supports both. For more on that setting, read printing in black and white from Google Chrome.
More settings	Click it to show paper size, pages per sheet, margins, scale and two-sided printing, when your printer offers them.

A few of these solve common problems:

• Pages per sheet set to 2 or 4 shrinks pages onto one sheet, which saves paper on drafts you only need to proofread.
• Scale set to Fit to printable area pulls in edges that get cut off, and a custom percentage makes the printout a little smaller or larger.
• Two-sided prints on both sides of the paper if your printer can do it automatically. If your Pages menu offers odd and even pages instead, print the odd pages, flip the stack, and print the even pages.
• Print using system dialog (at the bottom of the settings on Windows, or Ctrl + Shift + P) opens your printer’s own window, where you’ll find options Chrome doesn’t show, such as paper type, print quality and tray selection.

Your choices apply to this print job only. Check the preview before you click Print, since it shows exactly what will come out of the printer.

Printing a to-do list or sign-up sheet? First insert checkboxes in Google Docs so each line has a box.

Set Up the Page Before Printing

Orientation, paper size and margins for the document itself are set in Docs. To change page setup:

1. Click File > Page setup.
2. At the top of the window, select Pages.
3. Change the Orientation, Paper size, Margins or Page color.
4. Click OK. To use these settings for new documents too, click Set as default first.

The document layout changes, and the print preview matches it. A few tips:

• Match Paper size to the paper in your printer. US documents default to Letter; choose Legal or A4 when you need them, and load that paper.
• Most printers can’t print right to the edge, so keep margins at about a quarter inch or more.
• A colored Page color prints on every page and uses a lot of ink. Set it back to white unless you want it.
• To turn only some pages sideways, Google’s page setup help explains section breaks and Apply to, and landscape orientation in Google Docs walks through it.

Empty page at the end of the preview? Delete the blank page in Google Docs before printing. A page break in Google Docs starts a new page exactly where you want one. If the printout needs numbered pages, add page numbers in Google Docs before you print.

Printing a Pageless Document

Pageless format shows the document as one long scroll with no page breaks. Page size, margins and orientation aren’t available in pageless format. You can still print a pageless document, but it may look different in the preview:

• Images adjust automatically to fit the page width.
• Wide tables are squeezed to fit.
• If the document used pages format before, its headers, footers, watermarks and footnotes still print, even though you can’t see them in pageless view.

For full control over the printed result, switch to pages format with File > Page setup > Pages, check where the page breaks fall, and print again.

Print Only Part of a Document

To print a few pages, set Pages to Custom in the print window and type the page numbers. In pages format, the page numbers show beside the scroll bar as you scroll, which helps you find the right range.

Docs has no option to print only selected text. Copy the part you want, paste it into a new document with File > New > Document, and print that.

Print Comments or a Clean Copy

Google’s printing help doesn’t describe a way to include comments in a Docs printout, and comments don’t appear in the print preview. If you need them on paper, download the file with File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx), open it in Word, and print it with markup turned on.

Suggested edits are a different case. To print a clean copy, accept or reject the suggestions first with Tools > Review suggested edits. If you don’t want to change the shared file, make your own copy with File > Make a copy, accept the suggestions there, and print the copy.

Save or Download Instead of Printing

To make a PDF, choose Save as PDF as the destination in the print window and click Save. You can also skip the print window and click File > Download > PDF Document. Saving a Google Doc as a PDF goes into more detail. A PDF is also a handy way to check the layout without using paper.

Another option is to download and print. Click File > Download, choose a format such as Microsoft Word or PDF, open the downloaded file, and print it from that app. This helps when you need settings only another app offers, such as booklet printing in a PDF reader.

Every download format, plus other ways to keep a copy, is listed in saving a document in Google Docs.

In Firefox, Safari or another browser, you can print Docs files too, but File > Print may download a PDF instead of opening a print window. Open the PDF when it finishes downloading, then use your PDF viewer’s File > Print.

Print From a Chromebook

Printing works the same way on a Chromebook: press Ctrl + P, open Destination, choose See more, pick your printer and select Print. Google’s Chromebook printer help notes that the printer and Chromebook must be on the same network and that Chromebooks don’t support Bluetooth printing. To keep a printer in the list, go to Settings > Device > Printers and scanners > Print and select Save next to it. On a work or school Chromebook, ask your administrator if you can’t add one.

Print From Your Phone

In the Google Docs app on Android, iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the document.
2. Tap More (three dots).
3. Tap Share & export > Print.
4. Select your printer and tap Print.

The document prints from your phone. Your phone and printer usually need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. On iPhone and iPad, you can change the orientation or paper size first with More > Page setup.

Printer setup and fixes on a phone are covered in printing from Google Docs on iPhone or Android.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
Your printer isn’t listed	Open Destination > See more. If it’s still missing, make sure the printer is on and connected, then check that your computer has it set up.
Print is missing or grayed out	The owner may have turned off printing for your role. Ask for edit access or a copy.
Text or tables are cut off	Widen the margins in File > Page setup, or set Scale to Fit to printable area.
Page breaks look wrong	The document is probably pageless. Switch to Pages in File > Page setup.
An extra blank page prints	Delete empty lines or a page break at the end of the document.
The preview won’t load	Wait for long documents, reload the page, or download a PDF with File > Download > PDF Document and print that.
The job is sent but nothing prints	Check the printer for paper, ink and error lights, and clear any stuck jobs in your computer’s print queue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides

• How to save a Google Doc as a PDF
• How to insert a page break in Google Docs
• How to print on one page in Google Sheets
• How to print 4 slides per page in Google Slides

If you want every document to print without color, learn how to set your printer to black and white by default.