Printing

Standard Printing

 

Introduction

Printing allows you to get your work on paper. This is useful both for referencing and sharing your work. Data available on your worksheets can be explored and exploited in various areas including visual presentation or book review. Since printing involves different issues, it is important to know what Microsoft Excel offers. There are two main ways you can get data from your worksheet to the printer: by clicking the Print button on the Standard toolbar or by performing custom configuration from the main menu. Before printing, make sure that a printer is available for your computer. This means that, a printer could be attached to your computer or you may use a networked shared printer. Sometimes, more than one printer will be available to you. To check whether a printer is available for your computer, on the Taskbar of: Windows 9X and 2000, you can click Start -> Settings -> Printers Windows XP, you can click Start -> Controls Panel, click Printer and Other Hardware, then click View Installed Printer or Fax Printers Windows Server 2003, on the taskbar, you can click Start -> Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes. You would see a list of the printers available to you. This action would open the Printers window. If more than one printer are available, they will appear on the list. The printer with the check mark icon is your default printer; this means that whenever you send a job to the printer, if you don’t change anything in the printing process, the default printer will do the job. If no printer is attached to your computer but you still need to at least print preview your worksheet, you can install a “fake” printer on your machine. To do that, from the Printers window, double-click Add Printer and follow the instructions of the Add Printer Wizard. The easiest way to print a worksheet is by clicking the Print button on the Standard toolbar. To have more control over the printing process, you will use the options available from the main menu.  The Standard Toolbar’s Print Button The Print button on the Standard toolbar offers the quickest way to print data. Once you click it, it sends your document directly to the printer. The Print button doesn’t provide any configuration, therefore, you should use it only when the job to be printed is not large or particularly complicated. In Microsoft Excel 2000 and later versions, if the Print button is not displaying on the Standard toolbar, click the More Buttons button on the toolbar and click the Print button.  Practical Learning: Using the Print Button Start Microsoft Excel and open the Grier Summer Camp1 workbook   Click the Registration tab if necessary to activate it On the Standard toolbar, click the Print button (If the Print button is not displaying, click the More Buttons button.) Notice that the document is printed vertically, on two sheets of paper Click the T-Shirts to Order tab to activate it On the Standard toolbar, click the Print button Notice the result on the printed document Print Preview Print preview allows you to open a special window that would present the document as it would appear when it is printed. In Microsoft Excel, the Print Preview window is not just used to preview the printed document. There are other configurations you can perform. The Print Preview window can be accessed from the Standard toolbar, the File menu, or the Print dialog box. The Print Preview window features a toolbar that allows you to perform various operations, some of which are closely related to printing. Some of these actions are related to issues we will review in this and the next lesson.

Button	Role
	Allows you to preview the next page of a document that spreads more than one page. We will review it in the section on Page Breaks
	The Previous button would take you to the previous section of the printed page. We will review it in the section on Page Breaks
	Since the Print Preview window is not used to read the document but to preview it, if you want to take a closer look at the document, click the Zoom button to zoom in. If you click the zoom button again, the preview area would come back to the previous display.
	Used to call the Print dialog box. We will review it in the section on the Print dialog box.
	Would call the Page Setup dialog. The Page Setup dialog box will be reviewed in another section
	Besides displaying a preview of the printed paper, the Print Preview window allows you to "enlarge" or "squeeze" the document. To do this, you can first click the Margins button. Once clicked the window would display lines around the document: Based on this, to shrink, enlarge, heighten or narrow the printed document, you can click one of the lines and drag in the desired direction.
	Allows to set or control page break(s)
	Used to close the Print Preview window
	Provides help on various issues related to this window

Practical Learning: Using the Print Preview Window

The Grier Summer Camp1 workbook should still be opened. Click the Registration tab sheet On the Standard toolbar, click the Print Preview button . Click the Print button to call the Print dialog On the Print dialog, click Cancel On the main menu of Microsoft Excel, click File -> Print Preview On the toolbar of the Print Preview window, click the Margins button. Notice the margin lines on the paper. Position your mouse on the left line. Notice that your mouse pointer changes to a cross with horizontal arrows Drag your mouse to the right. While you are dragging, observe the dimension on the left side of the Status bar Keep dragging until the dimension on the Status Bar displays something between 1.48 and 1.52 (you should have the option between 1.49 and 1.51; if that is the case, stop at 1.51) Click the Margins button again to dismiss the margin lines Click the Next button to view the second page Click the Close button on the Print Preview window

Print Configuration

 

The Print Dialog Box

The printing process in Microsoft Excel offers all the classic default features of any other application and other specific issues related to a spreadsheet. To control printing on your worksheet, you use the Print dialog box. The Print dialog box is accessible from the main menu by clicking File -> Print... The Print dialog box displays some of the items you are already familiar with such as the title bar, the Context Sensitive Help, the close, the OK, and the Cancel buttons.

When a printer (at least one) is available for your computer, it is usually set as the default printer and it displays on the Printer Name combo box. If more than one printer is available, when you decide to print, click the Printer Name combo box and select the desired printer from the list. If your worksheet is long, sometimes very long, and expand on various pages, you have the option of printing all the pages or range of pages. This can be configured in the Print Range section of the dialog box. You can also select some sections of the worksheet and print just that. This is configured in the Print What section. By default, Microsoft Excel prints the active worksheet, that is, the worksheet that is displaying in the background. If you decide to print everything on your workbook, you can click the Entire Workbook radio button. For a presentation or any other purpose, if you want to print various copies of the worksheet, increase the number by using the Number Of Copies spin button. The Properties button allows you to configure or change some of the properties related to the selected printer. One thing you should always do is to preview your worksheet before the actual printing, this allows you to have an idea of what your worksheet would look like on a piece of paper. You can preview your job by clicking the Preview button.

Practical Learning: Using the Print Dialog

Open the Cherry Pumpkin Day Care2 workbook and, if necessary, click the Registration tab to activate it Select cells D5:G16 On the main menu, click File -> Print... In the Print What section, click the Selection radio button Using its spin button, increase the Number Of Copies to 2   Click OK to print the selection in 2 copies. Notice that each printed paper includes only the area previously selected. Press Ctrl + Home to make sure the selection is deselected.

Page Breaks

When using the Print button on the Standard toolbar, the document printed on two pieces of paper. Whenever a document is longer than the default 11 inches height, the printing process will segment it in sections to fit the legal height. If you don’t like the way the printer sets the page limit, you can set your own and tell the printer where you want each page to start. To do that, you use the Page Break feature. You don’t have to set a page limit the traditional way which consists of using the end of a real end of a page. Microsoft Excel allows you to start a new page anywhere on the worksheet. To set your own page end, first click the row that will start the subsequent page. Then on the main menu, you would click Insert -> Page Break. You should notice a line that points to the page break.  The document will be divided in at least 4 sections and each section represents its own page. After you have worked with the page break, or if you don’t need the page break anymore, you can remove it. To remove a page break, on the main menu, you can click Insert -> Remove Page Break.

Practical Learning: Using Page Breaks

Access the Grier Summer Camp1 workbook from the Window menu and click the Registration tab sheet to activate it To set a page break, click row 28 On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break Click cell C10 to activate the 1st page On the Standard toolbar, click the Print Preview button Notice that the paper displays the upper section of the worksheet Click the Next button to preview the other part of the document Click the Close button on the toolbar To remove the page break, click row 28 to activate it On the main menu, click Insert -> Remove Page Break To set various page limits, click row 22 On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break Scroll down and click row 40 On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break. Click cell B30. Notice that there are two lines of page breaks on the worksheet   On the main menu, click File -> Print Preview Notice that the preview displays a shorter area than previously Click the Next button. Notice that, unlike previously, the Next and the Previous buttons are enabled: this is because the document is divided in three pages Click Next again To print the current worksheet, click Print On the Print dialog, click OK To remove the previous page breaks, click row 40 Press and hold Ctrl, then click row 28. That selects those two rows On the main menu, click Insert -> Remove Page Break To divide the worksheet in various page sections, click cell E28 to select it On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break Notice that the document is divided in four sections On the main menu, click File -> Print Preview Click the Next and the Previous buttons a few times to preview all the sections To print the current worksheet, click Print On the Print dialog, click OK To remove the page break, click cell E28 On the main menu, click Insert -> Remove Page Break

Worksheet Area Printing

Since a worksheet can grow very large and sometimes you don’t need all data available, Microsoft Excel allows you to select just one portion of the worksheet and send it to the printer. In order to print an area of the worksheet, first select that area, then, on the main menu, click File -> Print Area -> Set Print Area. Even if you click somewhere else, the selected area still displays a distinguished border. Once the desired area has been selected, you can proceed with printing.

Practical Learning: Printing an Area

Select cell C4:E20 On the main menu, click File -> Print Area -> Set Print Area Press Ctrl + C. Notice the selection border on the range of cells Press Ctrl + P to call the Print dialog From the Print dialog, accept all defaults and click OK To remove the border line on the range, on the main menu, click File -> Print Area -> Clear Print Area

Page Setup

 

Introduction

The Page Setup dialog box allows you to specially configure and control many issues related to printing. To access it, on the main menu, you can click File -> Page Setup... The Page Setup dialog box is equipped with four property pages.

The Page Property Page

 

Whenever you ask Microsoft Excel to print the contents of a worksheet, by default, it prints the document vertically, this is considered as Portrait. Some and many of the worksheets spread wider than taller. Therefore, you should check or change their page orientation before printing. That is why you have the option of choosing one of the orientation radio buttons. If the document or the section to be printed is wider than taller, you can change the Orientation to Landscape. By default, the printed document will adjust itself to 100% fitting a ratio of 1/1 page wide and tall. To change any of these settings, use the appropriate spin button in the Scaling section. The options are Adjust To, Fits To, and Page(s) Wide By. By default, the paper size is set to the Letter paper dimension, which is 8.5 by 11 inches. If this doesn’t fit your desire, click the Paper Size combo box and select a different size from the list. The result of the printed-paper depends on your printer. If your printer allows more configuration, click the Print Quality combo box and select a different setting. The Print button would call the Print dialog that we saw earlier. If you want to take a look at the printed result before actually printing, click the Print Preview button. Although the Print button would call the Print dialog box, the Options button allows you to change or configure the properties of the printer.

Practical Learning: Using the Page Property Sheet

Open the DAWN Report1 workbook On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup… From the Page Setup dialog box, if necessary, click the Page tab to activate it In the Orientation section, click the Landscape radio button Click the Print button to call the Print dialog In the Print dialog, click OK to print the spreadsheet

The Margins Property Page

The Margins property page allows you to control all four-margin sections of a printed-paper. By setting the proper width or height, you can control how much space will be left or untouched in the Top, the Left, the Right, or the Bottom sections of the printed paper. You can create one or two special sections for the title or the lower areas of the printed paper; these are the Header and the Footer sections. By default, a document prints starting on the top left corner of the paper. This may look awkward if your document contains just one section or a chart. Therefore the Margins property page allows you to center the content of the worksheet horizontally and/or vertically. This is done using the Horizontally or the Vertically check box in the Center On Page section.

Practical Learning: Using the Margins Property Sheet

Open the Grier Summer Camp1 workbook and click the T-Shirts to Order sheet   On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup… Click the Margins property page In the Center On Page section, click both the Horizontally and the Vertically check boxes Click the Print button On the Print dialog box, click OK Once the job has been printed, compare the current piece of paper with the one you printed previously

The Header/Footer Property Page

The Header/Footer property page of the Page Setup dialog box allows you to set and configure some of the items you would like to display in the top and bottom sections of the printed document. To configure one of the sections, you can click either the Custom Header or the Custom Footer buttons. The Custom Header button calls the Header dialog box. The Custom Footer button would call the Footer dialog box. Both dialogs look alike:

Just remember that what you set in one will display in its corresponding section on paper. Since most of the buttons are not very explicit, whenever you want to find what a button is used for, you can right-click it and click What’s This.

Button	Name	Role
	Font	Used to change the font of what is displaying in the section
	Page Number	Used to display an incremental number for each printed page.
	Total Pages	Displays the total number of pages of a document on the printed sheet.
	Date	Allows you to display the date the document is printed.
	Time	Will display the time the document is being printed.
	File Name	Can include the file name on the printed paper.
	Sheet Name	Is used to display the name of the worksheet.

 

Practical Learning: Configuring the Header/Footer Sections

Access or open the DAWN Report1 workbook On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup… Click the Header/Footer property page Click Custom Header... Click the Left Section box to make it active Type Center for Drug Studies In the Left Section box, select Center for Drug Studies Click the Font button In the Font dialog box, change the Font to Times New Roman, the Font Style to Bold, and the Size to 11 Click OK Click the Right Section box Click the Date button   Click OK Click the Custom Footer button Make sure the cursor is in the Left Section box Type Gertrude McNeil and press Tab twice Make sure your cursor is in the Right Section box Click the Page Number button Click OK On the Page Setup dialog box, click the Page property page and, in the Orientation section, click the Landscape radio button Click Print Preview In the Print Preview window, click the Print button On the Print dialog box, click OK

The Sheet Property Page

You have probably realized that some of the documents we would printing don’t include a worksheet’s header columns, header rows, or gridlines. This is because in most cases they can be ignored. In some circumstances, such as when performing some presentations or illustrations, you may want to print some or everything that is part of the worksheet. That’s what you can configure from the Sheet property page of the Page Setup dialog box:

The Print Area text box allows you to delimit a section of your worksheet for printing. To use it, click its selection button . This would shrink the Page Setup dialog, allowing you to make a selection of the area you want to print. After setting the desired area, you can click the selection button to restore the Page Setup dialog box. Most of the time, when creating a list of items, you would set the list headers only on top of the worksheet. As you continue entering the items, the list grows. If you decide to print such a long list that spreads on various pages, after the 1st page, the subsequent pages would not display their headers. This could be confusing in some circumstances. The Sheet property page allows you to set or select a row or range of rows that would display on top of every printed sheet. If you know the row or range of rows you want to use, you can just type it in the Rows To Repeat At Top text box, but the safest way to configure it is to click the selection button , then click any cell in the desired row or click the desired cells. In either case, the whole row or the rows will be selected. The Columns To Repeat At Left text box is used like the previous box except that, this time, it would display a particular column on the left side of each printed sheet. If you want to print the gridlines, in the Print section, click the Gridlines check box. If you want to display the column and row headers on your printed paper, click the Row And Column Headings check box.

Practical Learning: What to Print From The Sheet

1. On the main menu, click Window -> Grier Summer Camp1 to open it. Click the Registration tab
2. On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup…
3. Click the Sheet property page
4. Click the selection button of the Print Area text box
5. On the worksheet, select cells C4:G28
6. Click the stop selection button
7. Click the Print button
8. From the Print dialog, click OK
9. On the main menu of Microsoft Excel, Window -> DAWN Report1
10. On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup…
11. Click the Page property page. Click the Landscape radio button
12. Click the Sheet property page to make it active
13. If there is anything in the Print Area text box, delete it
    In the Print section, click the Gridlines check box
14. Also click the Row and Column Headings check box
15. Click the Print Preview button
    
    
    
16. In the Print Preview window, click the Print... button
17. In the Print dialog box, click OK
18. On the main menu, click Window -> Grier Summer Camp1
19. On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup… and click the Sheet property page
20. In the Rows To Repeat At Top text box, click the selection button
21. Click cell B4 (Regist Date)
22. Click the stop selection button
23. Click the Print button.
24. In the Print dialog, click OK
25. Exit from Microsoft Excel. When closing the workbooks, anytime you are asked whether to save, click No