Worksheets are typically too wide for standard 8.5-by-11-inch paper and often too wide for legal paper, even if you print them sideways on a page. Fortunately, Excel offers several features that can help, as you will see throughout this chapter. Before you start tweaking the worksheet layout and adjusting print settings to make a worksheet fit on 8.5-by-11-inch pages, check your page setup to determine how Excel is prepared to print your worksheet(s). Frequently, Excel inserts awkward page breaks, omits titles and column headings from some of the pages, and uses additional settings that result in an unacceptable printout. To check your worksheet before printing, click the Print Preview button (or select File , Print Preview ). This displays your worksheet in Print Preview mode, as shown in Figure 10.1. Figure 10.1. Using Excel's Print Preview, you can see how a worksheet will look before you print it.
Along the top of the preview area are several buttons that enable you to flip pages, zoom in and zoom out on the page, and change some common print settings. Table 10.1 lists and describes these buttons in greater detail. Table 10.1. Print Preview Buttons
One of the best features offered in Print Preview is the ability it gives you to change margins without having to guess what the effects will be. When you click the Margins button, margin and column markers appear, as shown in Figure 10.2. To change the margins or column widths, simply drag a marker. Instantly, Print Preview redraws the screen to show the effects of the change on your worksheet. Figure 10.2. You can drag a margin marker to change margin settings.
When you are finished previewing your pages, click the Close button to return to the main Excel screen. Caution
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