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 a Draft of a Worksheet.

Printing a Draft of a Worksheet

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated April 10, 2021)

Excel allows you to print drafts of your worksheets. This can be very helpful in speeding up the printing process. When printing drafts, Excel doesn't include graphics or graphic-related items (such as gridlines) in the printed output. Instead, all you see is the text or numbers that make up your worksheet. To print a draft, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Page Setup from the File menu. You will see the Page Setup dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Sheet tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  3. In the Print area of the dialog box, click on the Draft Quality check box. If the check box is selected, Excel will print drafts of whatever is printed.
  4. Click on OK.

Remember that the exact way in which draft printing is implemented is, in large part, up to your printer. Don't be surprised if you get different results doing a draft print on one printer as compared to another.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2965) 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 a Draft of a Worksheet.

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. ...

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