[Solved] Cannot Print Unless an Item is Selected
Fix the Outlook error "Cannot print unless an item is selected. Select an item, and try to print again." — caused by a corrupt print settings file.
This error typically appears after a Windows update and affects printing from Outlook specifically — Word and Excel will print fine. The fix involves renaming a single Outlook configuration file.
Close Outlook
Make sure Outlook is fully closed before proceeding. Check Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) to confirm no Outlook processes are running.
Navigate to the Outlook folder
Press Windows Key + R and paste the following path, replacing <your user profile> with your Windows username:
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\
Rename the outlprnt file
Locate the file named outlprnt (no extension). Right-click it and rename it to outlprnt.bak.
Restart Outlook and print
Reopen Outlook. Outlook will recreate a fresh outlprnt file on startup. Try printing again — the error should be gone.
Printing restored
Outlook will recreate the outlprnt file with clean settings and printing should work as normal.
Still can't print?
If the issue persists it may be related to your printer driver. Submit a support ticket and we'll investigate.