I've got an Intel PowerBook running Monterey 12.6 and Excel from Office 2019 (Excel v. 16.6.6.1 update in 2022).
SUMMARY
Mac Excel "Save as PDF" output from the print dialog box results in fuzzy, poor quality output. Text elements appear vectorized and sharp at all zoom levels but all Excel-generated graphics (gridlines, data markers) are only 100 ppi and look fuzzy in normal hard-copy printouts.
DETAILS
As long as I've had Excel 2019, the print-to-PDF feature has generated PDFs where…
- The text is properly vectorized and sharp at all zoom levels,
- Though series lines have sharp edges, the curves meander a bit unlike what you see in normal view,
- (Especially), all data-point markers are fuzzy and pixelated at what I measure as being 100 ppi.
- Moreover, I can't obtain fine, half-point-width gridlines; pretty much everything is limited to 100 ppi.
There is nothing that is “fine” about Save as PDF in the Print dialog in my installation of Excel on Mac Office 2019. Attempting Save as... from the File menu gives the same results.
I once tried installing a print driver and ensured it was selected when I chose "Save as PDF" from within the print dialog box, but the results have been the same for years: if you zoom in, you've got severe jaggies and what are supposed to be smoothly curved series lines look like they are taking off-ramps to truck diners along the way.
The bottom line is that "Save as PDF" in the print dialog box no longer outputs a full-on Adobe-compliant PDF with PostScript-based graphic elements and is instead rasterizing graphic elements to a very coarse level of 100 ppi.
Now, Excel for Mac used to fully handle PDFs; I have an old iMac running Snow Leopard (MacOS 10.6.8) that I fire up and use for my Excel graphs when I print to PDF. Then I open the PDFs in Preview on my modern Mac, Save As… to HEIC or PNG in the intended placement size at 600 dpi, and place that in my Word docs, which look gorgeous onscreen in both Windows and Mac but only "sort of" OK in print; nothing beats sending PostScript code to a printer.
Any ideas? Did Microsoft somewhere along the lines drop full Adobe PDF support in Excel? Is there something missing in my installation? Is this an oversight in Excel? Few people have old Macs with old versions of Excel sitting around as a work-around like I do.
