Forum Discussion
Excel Print Preview not matching the actual printed document
I played only with PDF files, if you uncheck this setting
it works correctly. Attached are two PDF:s, with and without scale setting.
Hey, I've attached an excel spreadsheet example of what I was talking about, as well as 2 PDFs to explain further.
The "Print to PDF" document shows the correct layout
The "Save as PDF" document shows how it comes out of the printer - which is a complete mess (for me)
I'd appreciate any insight you can give.
I played only with PDF files, if you uncheck this setting
it works correctly. Attached are two PDF:s, with and without scale setting.
liezelsmit , glad it helped, thank you for the feedback
SergeiBaklan I realise I'm a bit late to the party, but just wanted to say that this was extremely helpful to me as well. Thank you!
- Wow.. Thank you so much for this.. It also solved mine 🥰💗
You are welcome. 4-years old post and the answer still works.
Excel is infinite as universe, school never could cover all topics. No one pro, includes MVP:s and Microsoft Excel team, knows everything about Excel. Sure they know more than average user, but the main profit they could ask each other directly.
Thanks you so much, for the explanation, we learn everyday and some of these tricks are never taught from school and after so much time loses and struggled, then go on searching on these forumns, we come up with the guys like like Serge Baklan, so get solutions and never leave any thanks.
Thank you
I was wondering the issue since past few weeks,
you are awesome.even our IT admin can't find the solution.
- Thank you very much!
- Amazing thanks
- You are life savior.. I also got the same issue and the solution is this.. Thank you very much Sir...!
Your solution doesnt work in my case.
I have a problem since 6 years and no solution but I have exacly same problem as others here.
I can recognise 3 diffrent view
* view in excell 100% zoom
* view in excel 90% (usualy can be diffrent than 100%)
* preview (just before printing)
* PDF
all this above can be difrent depend situation.
Can I send you my excel example? maybe you could help me?
Almost 4 years later and this is still helping. You've saved me from pulling my hair out. Thank you.
Mae_G25 , thank you, glad to help
SergeiBaklan omg. all I can say is thank you.. I've been figuring it out why won't it come out identical. You're the best 🙂
- I was also having the same problem for month, Thanks for your help
- Really excellent solution for this issue. Thanks lot.
I have a similar issue, and although I tried un-ticking the 'Scale content' box, it did not resolve the issue.
The issue is with the text re-scaling withing a merged cell, which makes it look different in Page Layout to Print Preview. I think that's what is happening, so in the Walls cell, there are empty rows at the bottom of the cell, which are filled in. I am printing 'No scale', so 100%, and have some custom margins.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks for your help
- Omg. It's Nov 2022 and this really helped me. Thank u so much!
You are a saviour SergeiBaklan . I had a similar problem while printing the invoices. Despite selecting the printing area in the landscape, checking fit all columns and leaving 0 margins for header/footer/top/bottom/left/right, the final prints were leaving some bank space at one side of the page.
Your solution fixed it. Many thanks for kindly sharing the solution. SergeiBaklan
Thanks for sharing your problem Gano1224 . Great Help.
Cheers!!!
I'm currently on Excel v2205, but I'm still having issues with the preview not being the same as the print. But to make matters worse (for me) after I "print" (to PDF) the screen actually changes what I'm seeing in Page Layout... But as soon as I click on Print/Print Preview, the layout changes and moved things up a few rows?
Below are some screenshots of what's I'm seeing.
1. I've deselected the Scale content checkbox in Options/Advanced
2. I then attempt to Print - note the last few lines that should be on the 2nd page
3. Attempting to Save the PDF, to overwrite the existing "test" file.
4. After the Save, the screen immediately changes/updates and move the rows down slightly.
I've have both the Excel page layout set to A4, I also have the PDF printer set to A4. I do have the page setup selected to fit 1 page wide, and infinite tall.
The really stupid thing is... Before doing a print (to PDF) the rows are on the wrong page, after the Print, they move to the 2nd page. But now if I just try and Cut and Paste them (to move them), the moment I Cut, the screen updates and moves things around once more!? So no matter what I do, the screen changes itself?
If I re-select the Scale option in Options/Advanced, the preview remains wrong, the PDF is then correct, and the Pay Layout screen still updates itself every time I do something? 🤕
Excel 01
Excel 02
Excel 03
Excel 04
I've created a table to show alternating blue and white rows. I see the colors as expected in the print preview, but when I print, no row colors are printing. I tried exporting to PDF. Again, the PDF shows the different row colors, but does not print the blue and white rows. After trying multiple times, I realized there is a very faint "gray" color where the Blue color should be. I wouldn't mind having the gray color (giving up on the blue), but it is too faint to be effective in separating the rows. I googled this issue and kept getting the same results (to check to make sure that "Black and white" box was unchecked in the Sheet Tab of the Page Setup: it is not checked. And to make sure that "Draft quality" is not checked, it isn't. I really didn't have to check this, because I have 3 rows ABOVE the "Blue and White" rows that are in color and they print just fine. I really could use your expertise here! Please and Thank you!
SergeiBaklan Great! thank you!
SergeiBaklan Thank you so much !
