One of the most valuable features of Google Docs is the ability to lead a thread of discussion in the comment section of a document.
Many people want to be able to print these comment threads along with the document itself. This can be, for example, archiving the document verification process. But the problem is, when you print a Google document, the comments disappear on the printout.
Fortunately, there are some creative ways to print a Google doc with comments.
Export Google Document to Microsoft Word
The easiest way to print a Google document with comments is to first export it as a Word (.docx) file.
To do this, open a Google Docs document, choose File from the menu, choose Download, and then choose Microsoft Word (.docx).
Save the document to your computer. Now when you open the file in Microsoft Word, you will see that comments are included.
– /
If you don’t see comments, choose Browse from the Word menu, choose Comments on the ribbon, and choose Show Comments.
You are now ready to print. Just select “File” and then “Print” from the menu. You should see the comments appear in the preview on the right. Click the Print button to send the document to the printer
If you do not see comments in the print preview, select Print All Pages in the Settings section and make sure Print Layout is selected.
As a result, comments will appear on the printout.
If you have Microsoft Word installed on your computer, this is the fastest and easiest way to print a Google document with comments.
Export Google Document to OpenOffice
If you don’t have a licensed copy of Microsoft Word, another option is to export the document as an OpenDocument file (.odt). You can open this file with a number of OpenDocument-compatible programs such as Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, and others.
To do this, inside Google Docs, you can export to ODT by selecting “File” from the menu, then “Download” and choosing “OpenDocument Format (.odt)”.
Save the ODT file to your computer.
You can open the file in any OpenDocument file using your preferred program, such as OpenOffice Writer. In this document, you will see that all comments have been placed in the right margin.
You can print the document (with comments) by choosing File from the menu and choosing Print.
You may not see comments in the print preview. In this case, select the Comments drop-down menu and select either Bottom of Document or Bottom of Page.
Comments will be printed at the very bottom of the document or at the bottom of individual pages that contain comments.
Download Google Document as Web Page
If you don’t want to use an external application to print your Google document with comments, you can convert the document to HTML and use Chrome’s print function to print it with comments.
To do this, select File, Download, and select Web Page (.html, zipped).
This will save the zipped file to your computer. Unzip the file and open the HTML file in Chrome.
You will see the comments marked on each line where this comment existed in the Google Doc as a letter. At the bottom of the document, you will see all comments next to their letters.
To print your document, simply click the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of the Chrome window and choose Print.
Select the printer you want to print on and select Print. Your entire annotated document will be printed on the printer of your choice.
Use the Full Page Screen Capture plugin in Chrome
If you prefer to use the Chrome browser but don’t like the formatting of the export to HTML feature, you can install the Full Page Screen Capture Chrome extension instead.
This feature allows you to insert a small camera icon at the top of the Chrome browser by clicking it to take a screenshot of the entire Google Docs document.
When you’ve installed the extension and you’re ready to take a photo of your document, click on the camera icon.
A new window titled “Full Page Screen Capture” opens, displaying the entire document, including comments.
To print it, simply select the PDF icon at the top to download the PDF document and print it from your computer.
Use Google Document with the Chrome Comment Printer Extension
Another great extension that works for printing Google documents with comments is the Google Document with Comments Printer Chrome extension
After installing this extension, a printer icon appears at the top of the Chrome browser. This extension actually adds functionality to Google Docs to print a Google Docs document with comments.
When you select the icon, a pop-up window appears where you can choose whether you want to include comments in the printout, and how you want those comments to be formatted.
You can choose to print only the comments or the entire document with comments. You can also have extension lines between the comments if you like.
Before the extension prints the document, you will have the option to choose which printer you want to send it to. When you do, you will see a print preview with comments displayed to the right of each page they are on.
Print Google Docs Comments
As you can see, even though you cannot print Google Docs with comments due to the lack of this feature in Google Docs, there are many workarounds.
Whether you choose an external application like Microsoft Word, HTML printout, or one of the Chrome extensions, it all depends on personal preference. Each option is as simple and easy as the next.
–