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How can I preview my Excel document before printing, when there is no printer installed?
Simply choosing "Microsoft XPS Writer" or "Fax" as a default printer doesn't do the trick, system balks with "Chosen printer is unavailable" (sorry, if I reproduced message incorrectly, this Office is in Russian).
Any help appreciated.
Lensvol
Posted 2011-03-11T12:24:22.983
Reputation: 41
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Use a virtual PDF printer like PDFCreator. It should do the trick.
Mehper C. Palavuzlar
Posted 2011-03-11T12:24:22.983
Reputation: 51 093
@TomWij: PDFCreator is not one of those you mentioned. It's a source forge project that has been used widely. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:10:13.653
@TomWij: The aim here is to show Windows a printer to get "print preview" work. I don't suggest converting documents to PDF; I suggest bypassing the printer request of Windows by using a virtual one. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:25:30.707
@Mepher: A fake printer to get a fake "print preview" which is the same as already seen on screen; there is no point in doing that, who would want to install something just to get the same result as he already has? :-/ – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:31:42.747
@TomWij: I don't agree with you when you say "print preview = converting to PDF". It's not a native way. It's file conversion; and the converted file has to be opened in a PDF reader. If that was feasible, there would not be "print preview" button on Excel, Word, etc. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:37:29.090
@Mehper: My point is that there is no need to enable to preview prints, as both views are identical. Viewing in the "Print Layout" view and not in the "Print Preview" view is the native way and you can also save natively to PDFs (duh... conversion) without going through a bloated PostScript solution... – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:41:28.963
Read what you just said and read what the OP said, it seems to be feasible to use the Print Layout if you have no printer: There would not be "print preview" button on Excel, Word, etc. – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:45:01.690
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If you don't have a printer, you can already look at your print layout as anything you would do to get your document in another place would result in exactly the same view as your document loaded in View > Print Layout, either by natively displaying the view or by a bloated rendering/conversion.
Unrelated, if you need to print:
The proper way to properly convert to PDF natively is to save to a PDF, built-in behavior since 2010.
Tamara Wijsman
Posted 2011-03-11T12:24:22.983
Reputation: 54 163
I think you are missing something. He wants to use the print preview, not to save as PDF. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T13:32:53.797
@Mepher: Indifferent, if you don't have a printer, your output format is PDF/XPS, not WIP... – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T13:38:53.680
So, you suggest converting the document to another file type instead of trying to make "print preview" work. This would be a solution if we couldn't solve the "print preview" issue. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:19:59.090
Why is a fake printer needed to solve the "print preview"? This results in a fake "print preview" which can't be used to compare against real formats like PDF and real printers. I don't think you get the point of what a "print preview" is and that it can differ amongst printers, that's why you shouldn't install printer drivers if you don't have a printer but rather save to a PDF file in a native way. – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:25:20.897
"Print Preview" feature always needs a printer (no matter it's real or virtual). Without a printer, it doesn't work. I guess the MS Office programs somehow need printer settings (e.g. paper type, dimensions etc.) to create the preview of the documents. I've been using a fake printer on my home PC to bypass this problem. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:28:45.853
1For example, in Excel, I'm creating lots of tables and it would be very hard to save as PDF each time I modify the document. Instead, I just click on the "print preview" button and within 1 second I see what the print would be like. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:32:56.613
@Mepher: Why would you preview something that would be exactly the same because it is fake, it is unnecessary to install extra bloated software when this can be supported natively. Why do you need to save at all? You already have the document in front of you or can go into reading mode, no need to generate a fake "print preview" with bloated software which is exactly the same...
– Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:37:28.4971@TomWij: I've made my explanations and I don't want to discuss this issue with you anymore. We don't have to compromise. Let's leave the judgment to the OP and the community. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T14:42:48.743
There is no need to compromise, it is as is: No print preview without a printer because there is print layout. – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:48:19.563
Is "Microsoft XPS Writer" set as the default printer? It works for me in Excel 2007. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar – 2011-03-11T12:46:44.897
Welcome to Super User! I'm voting your question to be closed as a "print preview" doesn't exist without a printer, thus what you ask is not what you want and would result in the same as you already see on your screen or as you obtain by saving it natively to any file format that doesn't change characteristics. Please clarify your question if you want it to remain open...
– Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:46:54.700Forgot to mention: It's done natively by using View > Print Layout, check my answer.
– Tamara Wijsman – 2011-03-11T14:55:42.757