Guide to Printing with Excel

Once you have completed an excel project, you wan to be sure that you can print the final copy in a form readable by its users. Preferably, you DO NOT want the report to print across more than one page, or if it must, you would like to be able to read and interpret it on all pages. The following guide will help you to be sure your reports are in the most presentable format.

Printing Reports on 1 Page

Ideally, if the report can fit on one page, this is the best form of presentation. Here are a few ideas to help this happen.

  1. Print format can be viewed using the print preview button on the standard toolbar. This button is located to the right of the PRINT icon. It appears as a piece of paper with a magnifying glass. Check the preview to determine if the report can be printed on one page or if it requires more than one.
  2. The first and many times best option for 1 page printing is to shift the orientation of the report. Excel, by default, does all printing in portrait. This means the long side of the paper print vertically and the short side prints across the horizon. You can change this to landscape (long side across, short side vertical) through PAGE SETUP. PAGE SETUP can be accessed in two ways. First, on the PRINT PREVIEW (where you would be if you did #1), select SETUP from the menubar. Secondly, you can access PAGE SETUP by selecting FILE, PAGE SETUP from the menubar. Either option takes you to the same place. On the Page Tab, the first option is to change page orientation. Here you would select Landscape.
  3. If this does not work, there are a number of options you can try. The best bet is to do something that does NOT change the print size. (If your boss is over 40 like me, he/she won’t be able to read the small print!). I can think of a number of ways to possibly get your report to 1 page without reducing the print size
  4. Reduce column sizes of your report to the absolute minimum. There are two options to accomplish this.
  5. If you want to target only a few columns, double click on the bar between the column letters. This will adjust the column size to that of the largest data field in the column. All extra space will be eliminated.
  6. If you want to adjust all the columns in the report
  7. select the columns using the gray column header bar
  8. from the menubar, select
  9. FORMAT, COLUMN
  10. AUTOFIT
  11. this will automatically adjust all columns selected to their minimum size.
  12. Delete any unused columns – or make the column size smaller.
  13. Wrap the text of any headings, labels, etc. so that the overall column size can be reduced.
  14. Select the text to be wrapped.
  15. Select FORMAT CELL from the menubar or right click and select FORMAT CELL.
  16. Select the tab – ALIGNMENT.
  17. At the bottom under text control you will see WRAP TEXT. Click this option on.
  18. Adjust the margins of the document. Margin adjustments are accomplished easiest on PRINT PREVIEW. Select MARGIN on the menubar. Two lines will appear at the top and bottom of your document, and one line will appear at the left and right. Simply drag and drop these lines to adjust the margins. Excel will automatically adjust the document and display the new print format.
  19. If the above adjustments do not work, you can try changing the print size of the document.
  20. GO to PAGE SETUP as described in #2 above.
  21. The second grouping is for Scaling. This is where print size is adjusted.
  22. Manual adjustment - the first line “Adjust to 100% of normal size” is for manual adjustment. You can guess the % of normal size needed to have the document print on 1 page and adjust by using the up and down arrows.
  23. Automatic adjustment – the second line “Fit to 1 pages wide and 1 page tall. By selecting this option, Excel will automatically adjust the print size so that is fits on a single page.
  24. If this option makes the print too small (try not to have print less than 80% of regular size – most people won’t be able to read it.)
  25. This box can also be used to adjust the number of pages to print. If you think the report can fit on one page wide, but will need two pages in length, simply change 1 page tall to 2 by using the up/down arrows.
  26. This option may require the use of print titles, see #5B below.
  27. These steps DO NOT change the font size of your cells, simply the print size of the document.

Printing Reports Across a Number of Pages

  1. If the report is too long for more than 1 page, you may need to add identifying column and/or row headers so that data that flows across pages is identified. An example of this might be when you have a long report with the months of the year across the top of the page. If you simply print the report, the months will appear on page 1, but not appear on subsequent pages. To have the months appear on all pages, take the following steps:
  2. Set the print area.
  3. Select the print area with the white cross. The print area SHOULD NOT include the row/column headings that you want to print on each page of the document.
  4. Select FILE, PRINT AREA, SET PRINT AREA.
  5. Identify the rows/columns to be printed on each page as print titles.
  6. Go to the worksheet to be printed.
  7. Select FILE, PAGE SETUP from the menubar.
  8. Go to the SHEET Tab.
  9. Under PRINT TITLES, select either ROWS or COLUMNS
  10. Click the Worksheet Box (blue/red box). This will take you to your worksheet.
  11. Select the rows/columns to be printed on each page.
  12. Click OK.

Adjusting Page Cutoffs

  1. When the report exceeds 1 page, you may wish to have pages cutoff at specific break points rather than wherever Excel cuts off the page. To adjust page breaks:
  2. Go to PRINT PREVIEW.
  3. Select PAGE BREAK PREVIEW from the menubar.
  4. Page breaks will appear as blue lines on the page. To adjust simply drag and drop the line where it should appear.
  5. To return to normal view, select VIEW, NORMAL from the menubar.

PRINT SETUP offers numerous options for report printing. The following options are available: (Remember, PRINT SETUP can be reached using the menubar (FILE, PAGE SETUP) or at PRINT PREVIEW and selecting SETUP on the toolbar.

  • PRINT tab - besides options described above, can also
  • Change paper size
  • Change print quality – use if your printer can accommodate reduced quality – great ways to save ink!
  • Assign numbering of first page of document
  • MARGIN tab
  • Change margins widths manually
  • Adjust footer size
  • Report centering – both vertically and horizontally
  • HEADER/FOOTER tab
  • Can add headers (printed at the top of the page) and footers (appear at the bottom of the page)
  • Can be on left, center or right side of page
  • Automatic
  • Can select date, time, page number, tab name, and file name by using custom command
  • Use icon that appear
  • Manual
  • Can also type in your own unique header
  • I.e. your name
  • SHEET tab
  • In addition to creating titles and setting up the print area (5A above), can also
  • Add gridlines (lines across and/or down the page)
  • Add column and row headings
  • Change order of page printing

Hopefully, these suggestions will enable your to prepare reports that are not only accurate, but also ones that look good and are easily readable by users.

  1. Finally, when you are ready to print your workbook, there is no need to print each page separately. Using the SHIFT and CTRL keys can really help.
  1. Printing adjacent worksheets
  2. Click the Tab of the first worksheet to print.
  3. Hold down the SHIFT key.
  4. Click the Tab of the last worksheet to print.
  5. Release the Tab key.
  6. Print
  7. Printing nonadjacent worksheets
  8. Click the Tab of the first worksheet to print.
  9. Hold down the CTRL key.
  10. Click the Tab of the next worksheet to print.
  11. Keep clicking until all worksheets to print are selected.
  12. Release the Tab key.
  13. Print

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