Preview a document

Seeing a print preview for your document in Word for the web can seem a little confusing. That’s because it first creates a PDF to preserve the layout and formatting, and then you preview the PDF.

Note: If you’re using Internet Explorer on Windows 7 or an earlier operating system, you’ll need to download and install a PDF viewer, such as the free Adobe Reader app before you can preview your document.

Print command in Word Web App

  1. From the File tab in Word for the web, click Print. Even though the only option is Print to PDF, the PDF is the truest version of what would come out of your printer.

Word Online print dialog

The Word Web App generates a PDF copy of your document.

Tip: If your default PDF viewer is Word, cancel the Word for the web print job, open the document in Word (Edit Document > Edit in Word) and preview it from Word (File > Print).