If you've been making the most of Beacon's document merge feature, you may have had some difficulty printing multiple files without going through them one-by-one. Let's make it a little easier for you! Just follow the steps below to print a bunch of Word documents at the same time.
Which operating system are you using?
macOS
There are two different methods you can use to print multiple files on your Mac:
Method 1: Print from Finder
Open 'Finder'
Find your files, and select all that you'd like to print
Go to 'File' in your menu bar and choose 'Print'
That's it! 😄
Method 2: Drag files to your print queue
Open 'System Preferences'
Choose 'Printers & Scanners'
Click 'Open Print Queue...' on the printer you'd like to use
Drag your files to the print queue window - they'll start printing!
Windows
Windows heavily restricts the ability to print multiple Word documents at once. There are a few different ways to approach bulk printing depending on your volume and setup.
Method 1: Print from File Explorer
Note: Windows 11 restricts this to 15 or fewer files. If you select more than 15 files you may find that the 'Print' option does not appear
Open 'File explorer' by clicking the icon in your taskbar, or by going to Start > File Explorer
Select the files you'd like to print
Right click on them, and then choose 'Print' (if you don't see a print option, select 'Show more options' first)
Method 2: Merge documents together in Word
Instead of trying to print lots of documents, you can instead merge them together so that you're just printing one long document instead.
Go to the 'Insert' tab
Click the 'Object' drop-down
Choose 'Text from File…'
Select all documents
Note: When using this method, documents are inserted one-after-another into the next available space, so two documents may end up on the same page. To prevent this, simply add a page break to the bottom of your template document before merging.
Method 3: Use a dedicated program
A common approach for printing multiple files in Windows, considering its limited native support, is to use a 3rd party application instead. Print Conductor has been a popular option over the years, but we haven't tested it personally, so it's best to check with your internal IT folks.
Method 4: Drag files to the print queue (Windows 10 only)
Open Start > Settings
Select 'Printers & scanners' in the left pane
Select the printer you want to use, then click 'Open queue'
Keeping the queue window open, open 'File explorer' by clicking the icon in your taskbar, or by going to Start > File Explorer
Select the files you'd like to print
Drag them to the print queue window - they will start printing
