Spreadsheet Print Preview Dialog
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The Print Preview dialog allows you to preview a spreadsheet document before it is printed. This dialog contains commands to print, navigate, customize, and export workbooks. You can also specify the document’s print settings (paper size, margins, scaling, page orientation, and so on) and view the document after these settings are applied.
Click the Print Preview button on the File tab of the Spreadsheet control’s Ribbon UI to invoke the Print Preview dialog. Refer to the following topic for information on how to create a spreadsheet application with the Ribbon UI: Create a Simple Spreadsheet Application.
Print Preview Commands
The Print Preview dialog contains the following Ribbon commands:
You can use these commands to execute the following actions:
- Print a document and set print options
- Navigate through document pages
- Search text within a document
- Arrange document pages
- Change the zoom level for the document preview
- Specify the background color for document pages
- Save a document as a PDF file or an image
At the bottom of the Print Preview dialog, you can set the document’s zoom level, and view the total number of pages and the current page number.
The Print Settings Pane
The Print Settings pane allows you to customize print settings for a workbook. After you specify print settings, the Print Preview dialog displays the updated document preview.
When you invoke the Print Preview dialog, the Print Settings pane is displayed on the left side of the dialog. Click the Settings button on the Ribbon toolbar to hide or display this pane.
Specify Spreadsheet Content to Print
This option allows you to print the entire workbook or a specific portion of your document. Use the SpreadsheetPrintOptions.PrintContent property to programmatically specify spreadsheet content to print.
You can set this option to one of the following values:
- Print Active Sheets
- Prints the active sheet and all selected sheets. To select multiple sheets, hold CTRL and click sheet tabs in the Spreadsheet control’s sheet tab selector.
- Print Entire Workbook
- Prints all sheets in a workbook.
- Print Selection
- Prints the selected cell or cell range of the active sheet. If a chart sheet is active, all chart sheet content is printed.
Specify the Number of Copies and Page Range to Print
These options allow you to set the number of document copies and select the first and last page to print.
To define these options programmatically, create a PrinterSettings class instance, specify its PrinterSettings.Copies, PrinterSettings.FromPage, and PrinterSettings.ToPage properties, and pass the class instance to the SpreadsheetControl.Print method.
Collate Pages
If you print multiple copies, use this option to specify whether to collate document pages.
To define this option programmatically, create a PrinterSettings class instance, specify its PrinterSettings.Collate property, and pass the class instance to the SpreadsheetControl.Print method.
Specify Page Orientation
This option allows you to specify orientation for printed pages. Use the SheetView.Orientation property to specify page orientation in code.
Specify Paper Size
This option allows you to select the paper size for printed pages. You can also click More Paper Sizes to invoke the Page Setup dialog and specify the paper size in this dialog. The Page Setup dialog contains additional print settings and allows you to add headers and footers to a worksheet, specify page orientation, paper size, margins, printout options, and so on.
Use the SheetView.PaperKind property to specify one of the standard paper sizes programmatically. Call the SheetView.SetCustomPaperSize method to define a custom paper size for a sheet. After you customize the document paper size, the Print Settings pane displays the Custom Paper Size value for this option.
Specify Page Margins
This option allows you to select page margins. Use the SheetView.Margins property to specify the size of page margins in code.
If you need to print a document with custom margins, you can click Custom Margins and specify page margins in the invoked Page Setup dialog. After you customize page margins, the Print Settings pane displays the Custom Margins value for this option.
Specify Page Scaling
Use this option to specify whether to scale worksheet content to fit a printed page.
Note
This option is not available for pages that contain chart sheets. Chart sheets are automatically scaled to the specified page size.
The following scaling options are available:
- No Scaling
- Scaling is not applied to a worksheet. Use the WorksheetPrintOptions.Scale property to programmatically specify the percentage used to scale worksheet content.
- Fit Sheet on One Page
- Scales a worksheet to print all data on one page. Use the WorksheetPrintOptions.FitToPage property to specify this option in code.
- Fit All Columns on One Page
- Scales a worksheet to print all data columns on one page. Use the WorksheetPrintOptions.FitToWidth property to specify this option in code.
- Fit All Rows on One Page
- Scales a worksheet to print all data rows on one page. Use the WorksheetPrintOptions.FitToHeight property to specify this option in code.
If you need to print a document with custom scaling options, click Custom Scaling Options and specify page scaling in the invoked Page Setup dialog. After you customize page scaling, the Print Settings pane displays the Custom Scaling value for this option.
