Preparing a Chart Sheet for Printing

Excel allows you to use two types of charts: embedded charts and chart sheets. Since an embedded chart is included as part of a regular worksheet, you can print one just as you would any other worksheet.

Chart sheets, on the other hand, take a bit more preparation in order to print. To modify how a chart sheet appears, display the Page Setup dialog box. (In Excel 2007 display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon and click the small icon at the lower-right of the Page Setup group. In older versions of Excel select the Page Setup command from the File menu.) Make sure you select the Chart tab (Click here to see a related figure.) ; there you can select the quality of the printout and specify how much of the printed page the chart should occupy. (The options available in the dialog box depend on the version of Excel you are using.)

In versions of Excel prior to Excel 2007 you can specify the size of the printed chart. Since a chart sheet is, by nature, an entire sheet of paper, the default selection is Use Full Page. You can also choose either of the other options (Scale to Fit Page or Custom) to specify a different page size, however. If you choose either of these options and click on OK, Excel places a dashed line around the chart area. If you use the mouse to click on this line, sizing handles will appear around the image.

As with any other graphics image, you can size the chart sheet. As you move the mouse pointer over the sizing handles, it changes to a sizing arrow. Click on a sizing handle and drag the border of the chart to reflect the size you want to use. The direction of the arrowheads indicates the direction you can move the border. When you release the mouse button, the chart is resized and redrawn automatically.