Printing Reversed Images

There may be times when you need to print your document as a "negative." This means that everything is printed the opposite of what it was when created: black is printed as white, and white areas are printed as black. This is particularly helpful if you are doing camera work with your output. Other times you may need to print a mirror image of your output, which is helpful if you are creating output for phototransfer processes or for silkscreening.

There are a couple of ways you can create negative output, and all of them have to do with your printer driver. Finding the right combination of commands to do the trick may take a little digging, and it may vary depending on the type of printer you have. We use an old HP LaserJet 4MV, and we use the PostScript driver for the printer. These steps work for us:

1. Choose Print from the File menu. Word displays the Print dialog box. (To display the Print dialog box in Word 2007, click the Office button and click Print—or just press Ctrl+P.)
2. In the Name field, select the printer you want to use for your output. (This obviously only applies if you have more than one printer driver installed.)
3. Click on the Properties button. Word displays the Properties dialog box for your selected printer driver.
4. Scroll through the properties categories and expand the PostScript Options group by double-clicking on it.
5. To enable mirrored output, click on the Mirrored Output option and then click the On radio button at the bottom of the dialog box.
6. To enable negative output, click on the Negative Output option and then click the On radio button at the bottom of the dialog box.
7. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
8. Print your document as normal.

Once these settings are changed, they remain changed until you explicitly change them back. If you are using an HP printer driver (you don't have a PostScript printer), then you can follow these steps to accomplish the same purposes:

1. Choose Print from the File menu. Word displays the Print dialog box. (To display the Print dialog box in Word 2007, click the Office button and click Print—or just press Ctrl+P.)
2. In the Name field, select the printer you want to use for your output. (This obviously only applies if you have more than one printer driver installed.)
3. Click on the Properties button. Word displays the Properties dialog box for your selected printer driver.
4. Scroll through the properties categories and expand the Document Options group by double-clicking on it.
5. Click on the Halftone Color Adjustment option.
6. Click on the Halftone Color Adjustment button at the bottom of the dialog box. This displays the Halftone Color Adjustment dialog box.
7. To enable mirrored output, click on the Flip X check box at the bottom of the dialog box.
8. To enable negative output, click on the Negative check box.
9. Click OK to close the Halftone Color Adjustment dialog box.
10. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
11. Print your document as normal.

These settings, likewise, persist until you explicitly change them again.