Introduction

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.

Practical Learning: Using the Print Preview Window

1. The Grier Summer Camp1 workbook should still be opened. Click the Registration tab sheet
2. On the Standard toolbar, click the Print Preview button .
3. Click the Print button to call the Print dialog
4. On the Print dialog, click Cancel
5. On the main menu of Microsoft Excel, click File -> Print Preview
6. On the toolbar of the Print Preview window, click the Margins button. Notice the margin lines on the paper.
7. Position your mouse on the left line. Notice that your mouse pointer changes to a cross with horizontal arrows
8. Drag your mouse to the right. While you are dragging, observe the dimension on the left side of the Status bar
9. 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)
10. Click the Margins button again to dismiss the margin lines
11. Click the Next button to view the second page
12. 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

1. Open the Cherry Pumpkin Day Care2 workbook and, if necessary, click the Registration tab to activate it
2. Select cells D5:G16
3. On the main menu, click File -> Print...
4. In the Print What section, click the Selection radio button
5. Using its spin button, increase the Number Of Copies to 2
    
6. Click OK to print the selection in 2 copies.
   Notice that each printed paper includes only the area previously selected.
7. 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

1. Access the Grier Summer Camp1 workbook from the Window menu and click the Registration tab sheet to activate it
2. To set a page break, click row 28
3. On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break
4. Click cell C10 to activate the 1st page
5. On the Standard toolbar, click the Print Preview button
   Notice that the paper displays the upper section of the worksheet
6. Click the Next button to preview the other part of the document
7. Click the Close button on the toolbar
8. To remove the page break, click row 28 to activate it
9. On the main menu, click Insert -> Remove Page Break
10. To set various page limits, click row 22
11. On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break
12. Scroll down and click row 40
13. On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break.
14. Click cell B30. Notice that there are two lines of page breaks on the worksheet
     
15. On the main menu, click File -> Print Preview
    Notice that the preview displays a shorter area than previously
16. 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
17. Click Next again
18. To print the current worksheet, click Print
19. On the Print dialog, click OK
20. To remove the previous page breaks, click row 40
21. Press and hold Ctrl, then click row 28. That selects those two rows
22. On the main menu, click Insert -> Remove Page Break
23. To divide the worksheet in various page sections, click cell E28 to select it
24. On the main menu, click Insert -> Page Break
    Notice that the document is divided in four sections
25. On the main menu, click File -> Print Preview
26. Click the Next and the Previous buttons a few times to preview all the sections
27. To print the current worksheet, click Print
28. On the Print dialog, click OK
29. To remove the page break, click cell E28
30. 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

1. Select cell C4:E20
2. On the main menu, click File -> Print Area -> Set Print Area
3. Press Ctrl + C. Notice the selection border on the range of cells
4. Press Ctrl + P to call the Print dialog
5. From the Print dialog, accept all defaults and click OK
6. 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

1. Open the DAWN Report1 workbook
2. On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup…
3. From the Page Setup dialog box, if necessary, click the Page tab to activate it
   In the Orientation section, click the Landscape radio button
4. Click the Print button to call the Print dialog
5. 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

1. Open the Grier Summer Camp1 workbook and click the T-Shirts to Order sheet
    
2. On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup…
3. Click the Margins property page
4. In the Center On Page section, click both the Horizontally and the Vertically check boxes
5. Click the Print button
6. 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.

Practical Learning: Configuring the Header/Footer Sections

1. Access or open the DAWN Report1 workbook
2. On the main menu, click File -> Page Setup…
3. Click the Header/Footer property page
4. Click Custom Header...
5. Click the Left Section box to make it active
   Type Center for Drug Studies
6. In the Left Section box, select Center for Drug Studies
7. Click the Font button
8. In the Font dialog box, change the Font to Times New Roman, the Font Style to Bold, and the Size to 11
9. Click OK
10. Click the Right Section box
11. Click the Date button
     
12. Click OK
13. Click the Custom Footer button
14. Make sure the cursor is in the Left Section box
    Type Gertrude McNeil and press Tab twice
15. Make sure your cursor is in the Right Section box
    Click the Page Number button
16. Click OK
17. On the Page Setup dialog box, click the Page property page and, in the Orientation section, click the Landscape radio button
18. Click Print Preview
19. In the Print Preview window, click the Print button
20. 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