Print Quantity is Stuck

Eric has a problem with one of his worksheets—the print quantity seems to be stuck on five copies. When Eric changes the number of copies to some other value, and then exits the workbook, the next time he opens it the quantity is again set to five copies.

Excel should not act this way; it defaults to a single copy for all printouts, unless you specifically change it. Even then, the change is only for the current printing of the worksheet. When you next display the Print dialog box, the quantity should again be set to one.

The most likely culprit is that there is a macro that is being run in the workbook, perhaps when it is first opened. This macro, among other things, may be setting the print quantity to five. (The fact that the problem occurs only in this particular workbook makes this solution seem the most likely.) Check to see if there is a macro, and if so you can change it to reflect the desired print quantity.

Another thing to check would be the settings in your printer driver. When you display the Print dialog box, there is a Properties button near the top of the dialog box. Click this, and Excel shows you the different settings you can make for your printer. You may need to dig around in the various tabs and controls, but many printer drivers allow you to specify a number of copies. This value, if set, may be persistent throughout your entire Windows session, and perhaps from one session to another. If this is the cause of the problem, then it should be affecting printing from other programs and other workbooks, as well.