Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Printing without Opening.

Printing without Opening

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 21, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

If you need to quickly print the contents of a workbook without actually opening the workbook, you can do so by using one of the helpful features of Windows. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Use the Explorer, My Computer, or any Open dialog box to display the workbook that you want to print.
  2. Right-click on the file. Windows displays a Context menu.
  3. Choose the Print option from the Context menu.
  4. Windows loads Excel (if it is not already open), opens the workbook, and prints it. The workbook is then closed.

The only thing printed in the workbook is the single worksheet that was selected when the workbook was last closed. It is also printed to whatever you are using as the current printer. If you want to print using different specifications (i.e., a different printer or area of the workbook) then you must first open the workbook in order to print.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2515) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Printing without Opening.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting a Dynamic Word Count in Your Document

Need to know how many words are in your document? You can use the NumWords field to add that statistic, dynamically, to ...

Discover More

Unwanted Cover Pages with Print Jobs

When you print a document, do you get more than you bargained for? If you get extra pages printed either before or within ...

Discover More

Using the Drawing Grid

One of the lesser-known drawing tools provided in Word is the drawing grid. You can easily turn this feature on and use ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Non-Printing Controls

Don't want your form controls to print out with your worksheet? Here's how to make sure that Excel excludes them from the ...

Discover More

Speeding Up Printing

Changing a couple of the print settings in Excel can speed up the printing of your worksheets. This tip examines those ...

Discover More

Printing a Short Selection

Need to print just a portion of a worksheet? It's easy to do if you follow the steps in this tip.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 9 + 7?

2017-01-24 13:26:35

Pepper

I don't know what happened but all of a sudden when I try to open the spreadsheet in Excel, it prints the sheet then closes itself. How do I stop the auto print when opening a file?


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.