A Beginner’s Guide on Printing in Google Sheets
Google Sheets gives you several printing options to ensure you get the printout you need. You can change many settings — from printing a single worksheet to printing an entire workbook; there’s a lot you can do. This includes adjusting your printout’s scale, layout, and alignment, among other things.
So, we’ll give you easy-to-follow steps on how to print in Google Sheets, adjust your printout’s alignment, fit an entire worksheet on a single page, and more. Let’s dive into it below!
How to Print in Google Sheets
Open the Google Sheets worksheet that you want to print and follow the steps below:
While following the steps, you would have noticed the different options on thePrint settingspage. It’s important to know how to use these settings so that you’re able to print your Google Sheets worksheets however you like.
Let’s discuss using the different options on thePrint settingspage.
Choosing the Print Area on Google Sheets
The first option on thePrint settingspage isPrint. By default, you’ll have theCurrent sheetoption set, allowing you to print the sheet you are currently on. But there are two other options you could choose from:
TheSelected cellsoption comes in handy when you’ve got a large worksheet, but you only need to print a portion. Let’s say you want to print the part of the following sheet till the first invoice:
For that, follow the steps below:
Aligning Spreadsheets Before Printing
There’s aFormattingsection at the bottom right of thePrint settingspage (just aboveHeaders & footers), which containsAlignmentsettings. In Google Sheets, the alignment settings are set to center-top by default. Even though the default settings are perfect for most cases, sometimes changing the alignment of your printout brings the best result.
For example, the center-top alignment will look odd if you only want to print a single column. It will also waste a lot of page space. See the image below:
For a better result, you can set the alignment to left-top. For that, change theHorizontalalignment toLeft, while theVerticalalignment remainsTop.
Other than that, you’re able to change thePage ordertoDown, then overorOver, then down. You can also choose whether toShow gridlinesorShow notesin your printout by checking them. Here’s an image that shows thePrint settingspreview without the gridlines:
Printing a Google Sheets Worksheet on One Page
For a larger worksheet, the columns won’t fit on one page. If you haven’t changed the cell sizes inside your worksheet, Google Sheets will (by default) print the first nine columns on a single page. The rest of the columns will get printed on the next page.
But that’s not always favorable. Most of the time, you want all worksheet columns to show on a single page. To do that, follow the steps below:
After following these steps, all contents of your worksheet will fit on a single page. Depending on your requirements, you can also change theScalesetting toFit to widthorFit to height. Or you can use theCustom numberoption to enter and provide a percentage scale according to your liking.
Solving the Problem of Unreadable Fonts
TheFit to pageoption does an excellent job of fitting the entire worksheet on a single page. But it does so at the expense of legibility. Google Sheets reduces the font size to fit all the cells on one page. Sometimes, the font is so tiny that the printout becomes difficult to read, especially if you have a large worksheet.
Here are a few tips you can use to solve this problem:
Reduce Column Width
Usually, there’s a lot of white space inside columns. If you reduce the column width, the white space will be reduced, allowing more columns to fit into a single page. To reduce column width:
Hide Rows and Columns
Hiding unused rows and columns lets you fit more columns into a single page. To hide rows and columns:
Format Cell Content
We can format the worksheet content in many ways to occupy less space. That is why knowing thebest Google Sheets formatting tipsis essential for any Google Sheets user.
For example, if you’re using athousand separatorin your numbers, removing it from hundreds of cells can free up enough space to squeeze in a few more columns. Similarly, choosing a shorter date format (if your worksheet includes dates) helps free up space.
If you suspect your worksheet has duplicate information, remove it to save space. Here are some steps toremove duplicates in Google Sheetsto make your data fit on one page.
Reduce Margins
In thePrint Settingspage, theMarginoption lets you set the margins of the printed page. You can selectNormal, Narrow, or Widemargins. By selectingNarrowmargins, you can free up space for more columns. Also, you can manually adjust the margins by dragging the margin lines to your desired positions with theCustom numbersoption.
Formatting Is Important When You’re Printing
Now that you know Google Sheet’sPrint Settingspage and its different options, it’s time to play around. Try out different layouts, alignments, and scales to see the results they bring.
But remember, a printout is as good as its digital copy. If the formatting of the digital worksheet is off, the printout will be just as bad. That is why getting good at formatting spreadsheets on Google Sheets is essential to get legible and visually pleasing printouts.
Want to make your Google Sheets look professional and easy to read? Check out this beginner’s guide to Google Sheets formatting.
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