Forum Discussion

EvaM's avatar
EvaM
Tin Contributor
Jul 27, 2026

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 ba...
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NikolinoDE's avatar
NikolinoDE
Platinum Contributor
Jul 30, 2026

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.