Excel printing and display scaling bug

Anonymous
2018-04-10T15:17:07+00:00

Windows 7 Pro

Office 365 x64 ver 1709 (Build 8431.2236 click-torun)

When printing with Excel, the page layout is being affected by display scaling.  I had it set at 125%.  A spreadsheet that normally prints to 6 pages is trying to print to 9 or 10 pages.  Adjusting the page size in "page break view" does not fix the problem.  This is with the setting, "fit all columns on one page".  If you simply reduce the *print* scaling (by a percentage, instead) until it print on only 6 pages, the sheet appears more narrow than it normally does.

If you simply set the display scaling back to 100%, it fixes the problem.  Display scaling should only change what I see, not how it prints.

Furthermore, checking the box under excel shortcut:  "disable display scaling on high dpi settings" does NOT disable the display scaling for excel like it should.  I had to completely shut it off under display settings to resolve the problem.

Edit:  Added *print* to the scaling option I was referring to.   Please note display scaling setting is in windows and print scaling is in excel.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-04-22T14:06:39+00:00

    Hi Matt,

    Could you please share the result after you tried the above suggestions? We will try our best to provide support for you.

    Regards,

    Zixuan

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-04-19T11:27:26+00:00

    Hi Matt,

    Apologize for the delay and thanks a lot for your supplement.

    I have got your point that you mean the setting of scale in windows affects Excel printing while the setting should only change the display. Thus, you find you may select the Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings to fix it. However, you tried but with no avail.

    I tested on our end in win7 and win10. On these two OS versions, scaling in windows won't affect Excel printing. Thus, whether I check or uncheck the Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings in win7((no such option for Excel in win10), there isn't influence and Excel prints normally.

    Since we can't repro, to narrow down this behavior on your end, could you please try the following troubleshooting steps to see the outcome:

    1. Please open Excel in safe mode to see the outcome.
    2. Please perform a clean boot in Windows and then launch Excel to check whether it is related to some software conflicts.
    3. If neither of the above suggestions work for you, please follow the steps in this support article to repair Office application.

    Thanks a lot for your time and patience.

    Best Regards,

    Zixuan

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-04-17T16:54:05+00:00

    I understand the settings are totally different, but what I am telling you is that turning on display scaling in windows (see the first screenshot in my original reply) has changed how my file is printing in excel with absolutely no changes made to the excel file.  I only tried to disable display scaling (second screen shot above) because I was having the problem that is the subject of this post.  The fact that the disabling of display scaling in the excel shortcut is not working is a totally separate problem that I discovered while troubleshooting the printing issue.

    My problem is that, it should appear the same when printed, and it does not.  When i turn on "display scaling" in windows, it is changing how the spreadsheet prints, and it should not.  There is nothing that I can do in excel using the "print scaling" to make it look correct.  These come from the exact same file, with no other changes made to the file.

    I PM'd you PDFs.  I don't know how to explain this any better.  This needs to be reported to the developers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-04-17T16:28:47+00:00

    Hi Matthew,

    Thanks a lot for your updating.

    The information I provided in my last reply indicates that it is an expected behavior that scale option in Scale to Fit helps us to fit the printed page and that is the way it works.

    While regarding “Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings” you mentioned, it is a method to troubleshoot the situation that some desktop applications may appear somewhat blurry when you compare them with other applications on the screen according to this support article.

    Thus, from my understanding, “Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings” in windows and “Scale to Fit” in Excel are totally different.

    If the above is not what you have concern with, please post back for us to better understand your situation. Additionally, you may also share the PDF files with us via Private Message.

    Regards,

    Zixuan

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-04-16T13:07:19+00:00

    Hello,

    What you described does not achieve any different results than I described in my original post.  I stated there that I had changed the print scaling by a percentage to make it fit on 6 pages.  The problem is that this does not achieve the same result as when display scaling is shut off in windows.  The data on the page actually appears different.  It is much more narrow, and simply does not fit on the page as well.  I'd be happy to PM someone a PDF that shows the difference. 

    FYI, I am fixing a specific paper size:  11 x 17

    I would also like to point out:  No one has addressed the fact that I cannot disable display scaling via the excel shortcut.

    Thanks.

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