Download Printing Tips for Excel Spreadsheets: Shrinking, Expanding, and Fitting to One Page and more Summaries Printing in PDF only on Docsity!
10/17/06 Rev3 1
Tips and Tricks
for Printing
an Excel Spreadsheet
Microsoft Excel provides the following ways to view your spreadsheet and adjust how it will look printed:
- Normal view – This is the default view and is best for on-screen viewing and working
- Print preview – This shows you a page by page view of exactly how your data will print out
- Page break preview – This shows you what data will go on each page so you can adjust the print area and page breaks if needed
Shrinking/Expanding a Spreadsheet Image
The Page Setup option under File is used to change the printing specifications. It allows you to change the orientation and scaling, adjust the margins, include headers/footers and set the print area. These changes affect only the worksheet's printed appearance, not how it looks on the screen in Normal View.
Prior to printing your spreadsheet, it is a good idea to first look at it in Print Preview to see how it will look on the page; then proceed to Page Setup if you wish to change the printing specifications.
To Shrink or Expand a Spreadsheet Image:
- Click on File and select Print Preview or click on the Print Preview icon
- Click on SetUp …
This is an example of how a smaller sized spreadsheet will print on a page before changing any of the printing specifications.
To Fit a Spreadsheet on One Page:
- Click on the Page tab
- Click on the Fit to option under Scaling
- Click OK to view the changes in Print Preview
When you click on Fit to , Excel shrinks the printed image to the appropriate size in order to fit it on the number of pages you specify.
Note: Excel ignores manual page breaks when you use the Fit to option.
Changing the Orientation
As a default your spreadsheet will print in portrait layout. The User is able to change the page orientation to horizontal rather that vertical.
To Change to Landscape :
- Click on the Page tab
- Click on Landscape
- Click OK to view changes in Print Preview
Centering the Image on the Page
You can center the spreadsheet image horizontally on the page between the left and right margins, and/or center it vertically on the page between the top and bottom margins.
To Center an Image on a Page
- Click on the Margins tab
- Click on both Horizontally and Vertically under Center on Page
- Click on OK to view changes in Print Preview
This is an example of a smaller sized spreadsheet after the printer specifications were modified by using Page Setup:
To Unhide a Column or Row
- Highlight the outside columns or rows of the ones that are hidden. (for example: if column C is hidden, you want to select columns B and D)
- Click on Format
- Click on either Column or Row
- Click on Unhide
Freezing Panes
When working on large size spreadsheets it is sometimes necessary to keep the row and column labels visible when scrolling through the spreadsheet.
To Freeze Rows
- Select the row below the row you want to freeze
- Click on Window
- Click on Freeze Panes
To Freeze Columns
- Select the column to the right of the column you want to freeze
- Click on Window
- Click on Freeze Panes
To Freeze Both Columns and Rows
- Click the cell below and to the right of where you want the freeze to appear
- Click on Window
- Click on Freeze Panes
Unfreeze Panes
- Click on Window
- Click on Unfreeze Panes
