Forum Discussion
Excel Print to .PDF Not Formatting as it Used To
We use Excel for our PO forms. We have been using it for 20+ years. We have the Acrobat add-in in Excel, we then select as many sheets as we have pages to convert. Once in Acrobat, we bring in the background PO form and we have a digital PO.
Suddenly one of our computers had misalignment problems. The top part of the printed form looked great, but at about the 1/3 mark on the page it started to push down the words, pushing them out of the boxes that once worked perfectly.
This started with 1 computer - now we have 4 out of the 5 computers doing this.
This happened before the Windows 11 upgrades. The 1 computer that still works is on Windows 11, so we can't trace it back to that.
I have tested old Excel files that once worked - they no longer work on these 4 computers.
I have tried everything I know - resetting default fonts back to Calibri instead of Aptos - nothing seems to work.
This is a huge problem for us since it is the key to our work flow as a purchasing company.
We can't reformat the form because the 1 computer still works and for now - we need that computer otherwise, we would not be able to release any PO's.
I have been all over the internet trying to find a resolution - I even posted a question probably a year ago about this and never received an answer that worked.
We have had an IT specialist take a look at this. He believes it's Excel's problem because the MS .pdf printer shows the same problem.
We really need a resolution - this happened for what appears to us to be no logical reason.
Thanks.
5 Replies
I have exactly the same issue today when printing to PDF - something has changed. Our company logo no longer renders correctly even though it was fine a few weeks ago. The lines in the PDF for cell borders now convert as black when they are not black within Excel. I feel someone has done a sneaky change here and broken something.
As stated before - we have already done the side by side comparisons. And as stated before - we're running on new installs - so running updates or repairs aren't necessary....but we did it to be sure. I have sent MS all of this information and to date to not have a fix to the problem.
The fact that the text starts correctly at the top of the page but becomes progressively more misaligned further down is the most important diagnostic clue.
Because the offset increases throughout the page rather than remaining constant, this points much more strongly toward a rendering or font-metrics difference than a simple Page Setup or margin issue. While it's still worth verifying the print settings, the progressive nature of the drift makes a basic Page Setup mismatch less likely.
Since the issue occurs with both the Adobe PDF add-in and Microsoft Print to PDF, the PDF software itself is probably not the root cause. Excel calculates the page layout and text positioning before the output is handed to the PDF printer.
If you still have one computer that produces the correct output, I would use it as the "golden" reference and compare it with one of the affected machines in the following order:
1. Compare the Office version and build
- Go to File > Account > About Excel.
- Compare the full Version, Build, and Update Channel (Current Channel, Monthly Enterprise, Semi-Annual, etc.) between the working and non-working computers.
- Even when using the same font (such as Calibri), Office updates can occasionally change text rendering or font metrics, which may affect printed output.
2. Compare the default printer and printer driver
- On the working PC, note the exact default printer and driver version.
- Temporarily set the same default printer on a failing PC, restart Excel, and test again.
- Excel uses information from the active printer driver (such as printable area, DPI, and font metrics) when calculating page layout—even when the final output is a PDF.
3. Check Excel's print options
- Go to File > Options > Advanced, then scroll down to the Print section.
- Compare the setting "Scale content for A4 or 8.5 x 11" paper sizes between the working and failing computers.
- This setting is easy to overlook and is worth verifying to ensure all systems are configured the same way.
4. Verify Page Setup
- Confirm that Paper Size, Orientation, Margins, and Scaling (for example, "Adjust to 100%" versus "Fit to") are identical on both computers.
- Although these settings are less likely to explain a progressively increasing offset, it's still important to rule them out.
If all of these settings match and the issue remains, I would test one affected computer using the same Office build as the working machine (for example, by using the Office Deployment Tool to match the version). If the problem disappears, that would strongly suggest a change in Office's rendering behavior between builds.
Because the issue affects multiple existing workbooks, occurs on fresh Office installations, and appears with different PDF printers, the available evidence points toward an environment-level rendering difference rather than workbook corruption or a problem with the PDF software itself.
I would avoid reformatting your purchase order template for now. Since one computer still produces the correct output, that machine provides an excellent baseline for comparison. Identifying the configuration difference between the working and affected systems is likely to be much more productive than modifying a form that has worked reliably for many years.
Hopefully this helps narrow down the cause.
Thank you for your thoughts. We have meticulously checked every setting in Excel and the printer. It is hard to tell if the preview is correct until we bring in the background form. What's happening is at the very top of the sheet it might be a mm off - nothing you'd worry about. By the time it gets to about 1/4 of the way down the difference begins to be noticeable, but possibly manageable. However, once you get into the body of the PO and at the signature line the difference is substantial. It's like it's being padded by space the compounds itself down the entire file. On 2 of the computers, it's a complete new install - so there's not much to repair? However, we did run repair on one and that did not fix the problem.
Since workbooks shift on four computers but not one, and Acrobat and Microsoft Print to PDF both reproduce it, the font change and Windows 11 upgrade are less likely than a machine-specific print or Office setting. On the working and failing PCs, open the same sheet and compare the Excel build, selected printer, paper size, orientation, margins, and Page Setup scaling. Microsoft documents that these settings control printed pagination. Match them exactly, select the same printer, then inspect File > Print and Page Break Preview. If the preview is already shifted, reset Page Setup on a copy. If the preview is correct but the PDF shifts, update or reinstall the PDF or printer driver. Next run Microsoft 365 Quick Repair, then Online Repair. If the failing PCs share one Excel build, send Microsoft Support the workbook and screenshots of Page Setup and Print Preview from the working and failing computers.
