Microsoft Excel 2008

Printing Basics

When printing in Excel 2008, you can print all or part of the current workbook or worksheet. This document introduces some helpful printing options and techniques.

Printing Tips
Setting a Default Printer
Printing the Active Worksheet(s)
Printing the Entire Workbook
Defining the Print Area
Printing a Range of Cells

Printing Tips

To verify how the printout will look, use Print Preview.
For wide worksheets, you may want to print the information in landscape orientation (11" x 8.5") rather than portrait orientation (8.5" x 11"). For more information, refer to Customizing Page Layout: Changing the Orientation.
The Page Setup dialog box lets you modify various document properties, such as footers and headers, page alignment, and more. For more information, refer to About the Page Setup Dialog Box.
WARNING: If you click PRINTon the Standard toolbar, your document prints without letting you customize settings in the Print dialog box.

Setting a Default Printer

If you want to use the same printer for all your documents, you can set a default printer.

From the Apple menu, select System Preferences...
The System Preferences dialog box appears.
In the Hardware section, click PRINT & FAX
The Print & Fax dialog box appears
Click ADD A PRINTER
The Print Browser dialog box appears.
From the scroll menu, select the printer you want as your default printer
Click ADD
A checkmark appears next to the new default printer.

Printing the Active Worksheet(s)

Excel lets you print the active sheet(s) in your workbook without having to print the rest of the workbook. Unless you select multiple worksheets, the active worksheet is the visible worksheet (i.e., the top worksheet; the worksheet whose tab is selected). As explained below, however, it is possible to activate specific multiple worksheets for printing.

To activate the worksheet you want printed, click the tab of that worksheet in the bottom left of the application.
The worksheet is active.
OPTIONAL: To make more than one worksheet active,
1. Click the tab of the first sheet you want to activate
  The worksheet is active.
2. To activate sheets adjacent to the first one you selected, press [Shift] while you click the tab of the last sheet you want selected
  All sheets between the first and last tabs selected are active.
  To activate sheets that are not adjacent to the first one you selected, press [] while you click the tabs of all sheets you want selected
  All selected sheets are active.
From the File menu, select Print...
OR
Press [] + [P]
The Print dialog box appears.
In the Print What section, select Active Sheet
Click PRINT
The active worksheets are printed.

Printing the Entire Workbook

Printing the entire workbook will print all worksheets that contain data.

From the File menu, select Print...
OR
Press [] + [P]
The Print dialog box appears.
In the Print What section, select Entire Workbook
Click PRINT
The entire workbook is printed.

Defining the Print Area

By default, Excel prints all data on the current worksheet. However, you can define a specific print area from the Page Setup dialog box or the Menu option.

Defining the Print Area: Dialog Box Option

HINT: For more information about the Page Setup dialog box Sheet tab options, refer to Sheet Tab Options.

From the File menu, select Page Setup...
The Page Setup dialog box appears.
Select the Sheet tab
In the Print section, in the Print Area text box, type the range of cells you want to print
OR
To select the area,
1. Click COLLAPSE DIALOG
2. Select the desired range of cells
3. Click RESTORE DIALOG
Click OK
The print area is defined.

Defining the Print Area: Menu Option

Excel will keep the print area you have defined until it is cleared or replaced.

To set the print area:

Select the range of cells you want to print
From the File menu, select Print Area » Set Print Area
The print area is set.
OPTIONAL: To add more data to the print area,
1. Select a range of cells
2. From the File menu, select Print Area » Add to Print Area
  The selected cells are added to any previously selected data.

To clear the print area:

From the File menu, select Print Area » Clear Print Area
Any print area settings are cleared.

Printing a Range of Cells

You can manually select ranges of cells for printing. You also have the option of selecting multiple non-contiguous ranges for printing.

NOTE: Unless you provide a print range, Excel will print everything on the current worksheet, resulting in a printout of all cells from A1 to the last column and row containing information.

Selecting a Print Range Manually

Select the range of cells to be printed
From the File menu, select Print...
OR
Press [] + [P]
The Print dialog box appears.
In the Print What section, select Selection
Click PRINT
The specified range of cells is printed.

Selecting Multiple Ranges

Excel lets you print non-contiguous ranges. Selected ranges will print on separate pages.

Select the first range to be printed
Press [] + select the second range to be printed
For each additional range to be printed, repeat step 2
From the File menu, select Print...
OR
Press [] + [P]
The Print dialog box appears.
In the Print What section, select Selection
Click PRINT
The specified range of cells is printed.