How to Preview an Excel Worksheet before Printing

You can preview an Excel worksheet before you print it to see what it looks like. That way, you can determine if you need to adjust the margins, portrait or landscape layout, or page breaks if the worksheet is large. One way to make adjusts is that through the Print Preview feature.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Microsoft Excel 2003

1. You can get to Print Preview from the File menu, and then click Print Preview; or you can click on the Print Preview icon on your toolbar. In Print Preview, you can see what your worksheet will look like when printed out. By default, the setting is for portrait, which is a vertical 8.5 x 11 page.
2. Page Setup If you wanted the document to print in landscape mode, you would click on the Setup button, which produces the Page Setup dialogue box. On the Page tab, click on the Landscape radio button.
3. Adjust Margins If desired, one way to adjust the margins is to click on the Margins button. When you do, dotted lines display, showing where the margins are. The lines are for the left and right margins, the header and footer margins, and the top of the worksheet. You can adjust the margins by clicking on the margin line and dragging it to resize to the desired specifications
4. Adjust Columns Black square boxes with a tiny indicator mark column lines. You can click and drag the square to increase or decrease the width of a column.
5. When you are ready to print, click the Print button to take you to the Print dialogue box. Or click the Close button to return the worksheet.