I hear your sentiments, LisaMBurr, lizhere, and CFC2.

Let me make it up to you by sharing another way to print the 3 part forms.
 

@LisaMBurr, for QB 2018, this is no longer supported, and that could be the reason why you are unable to print the forms. You'll need to upgrade to 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 to print in the new format.

@lizhere and @CFC2, you may consider doing these steps shared by ACM22:

1. From the Print/E-file 1099s forms, the window opens to choose either 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC.
2. Choose 1099-MISC.
3. In Step 3, map accounts for every account, choose "Omit these payments from 1099" from the drop-down box.
4. Click Save and Close.
5. Then, go back to the Print /E-file forms, this time choose 1099-NEC.
6. In step 3, the drop-down boxes should not be grayed out and you should be able to choose NEC Box 1 for all necessary accounts and should print the 3-up forms.

Please check this article for more details: Create and file 1099s with QuickBooks Desktop.

Let me know how the steps work. I want to make sure you're now able to print the new forms.