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Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:25 pm
by sherriflake
When printing a spreadsheet from CALC, the bottom half of the spreadsheet does not print the grid lines. I have formatted the cells with borders, and they also do not print. This has been an ongoing problem even with a previous computer that ran Windows XP. I am now using a new computer with Windows 7.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:22 am
by swingkyd
Can you post a copy of the spreadsheet on the forum?

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:37 am
by acknak
By default, Calc doesn't print empty cells.

If you want to print an empty grid, you can set up a print range: select a range of cells, then Format > Print Range > Define.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:31 pm
by sherriflake
Thank you for the replies. The suggestions were followed, and the problem remained. Some of the empty cells DO have the grid lines printed, but only on the top portion of the sheet. The lines DO show in the print preview, but they do not print on the page. Might this be a printer issue? It was suggested that I post a copy of the spreadsheet. I do not find an option to attach. Would appreciate instructions on how to post a copy of the spreadsheet.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:40 pm
by thomasjk

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:18 pm
by acknak
sherriflake wrote:... The lines DO show in the print preview, but they do not print on the page. Might this be a printer issue?
Could well be the printer or printer driver software. Sometimes an update to the latest printer software can cure a glitch like this.

Here's an empty grid (2 pages) you can try; it prints fine for me.

You can also try exporting the sheet to pdf, then print the pdf from your pdf viewer application. That's usually an effective workaround to get something on paper.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:50 pm
by sherriflake
Thank you, acnak!! The page you attached had the same problem. I exported my file to pdf, opened it with adobe acrobat reader, and it printed from there WITH the gridlines! Soon I will address the printer issue.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:37 pm
by RoryOF
It may be that you need to change the printing resolution of your printer, as the lines may be vanishing because of cumulative arithmetic errors. Alternately, is it possible to increase the width of the default grid line - if so, try doubling it's weight.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:19 am
by zoe_b1
I have tried everything from this forum posting to get a blank celled, but outlined spreadsheet for school. I can't see a Preview of anything even if I put a border on all the highlighted areas I choose. I am trying to print off A-J, 1-35. Any specific help would be sooo appreciated. It's for my children's schooling. Thank you!

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:01 am
by Zizi64
Corrected Timeline.xls
This is an empty spreadsheet file. No data, no cell borders, there is not specified print range (it is exactly in the the default status: 'entire sheet'. What do you want to print?


(And the file type of the attached spreadsheet is .xls. Always work in the native ODF formats (.ods in this case), is you want work efficiently with the open source office suites.)

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:23 am
by Zizi64
I am trying to print off A-J, 1-35.
1.a: Put a . (dot) character into the last cell (J35): Then the Sheet will not empty.

1.b: or put a formula into the cell J35 what will result an empty string) for example:

Code: Select all

=IF(ISBLANK(A1);"";"")


2.a: Format the cells with the desired border (in this case you can set the line width, line type, line color.)
Select the range to print, Format - Cells - TAB: Borders...

2.b: or set this option in the Page style:
Format - Page (default page style) - TAB: Sheet - Area: Print - Check in the 'Grid" option (in this case the sheet will print with the grey cell grid)

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:04 pm
by zoe_b1
Zizi64 wrote:
I am trying to print off A-J, 1-35.
1.a: Put a . (dot) character into the last cell (J35): Then the Sheet will not empty.

1.b: or put a formula into the cell J35 what will result an empty string) for example:

Code: Select all

=IF(ISBLANK(A1);"";"")


2.a: Format the cells with the desired border (in this case you can set the line width, line type, line color.)
Select the range to print, Format - Cells - TAB: Borders...

2.b: or set this option in the Page style:
Format - Page (default page style) - TAB: Sheet - Area: Print - Check in the 'Grid" option (in this case the sheet will print with the grey cell grid)

No go still. When I used 1a and 1b they only allowed me to print a cingle column of rows. 2a and 2b were blank pages. I use the xls format to allow my fellow moms the ability to print off what I come up with since they don't use OO.

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:16 pm
by Zizi64
I use the xls format
Do not use incompatible, foreign file formats if you want work efficiently with the opensource office suites. The ODF is an International Standard document format. Use it, or export your document into a well documented portable format (pdf)
(The binary .xls format never was standardized, and the export filter was developed with the 'reverse enginering' method...)

Re: Printing gridlines for a spreadsheet

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:57 pm
by zoe_b1
Zizi64 wrote:
I use the xls format
Do not use incompatible, foreign file formats if you want work efficiently with the opensource office suites. The ODF is an International Standard document format. Use it, or export your document into a well documented portable format (pdf)
(The binary .xls format never was standardized, and the export filter was developed with the 'reverse enginering' method...)

I get that. I did find a way to print my grid lines and still have a blank document. Open a new Calc (Spreadsheet) and go into Format > Page > Sheet > Tick Grid in the Print list and click OK. THEN put a space in the top left hand cell and the bottom right hand cells of the sheet by placing the cursor in the cell and moving the space bar a few times.

Do a Print Preview before printing to be sure what is done is correct. The first time I tried it wasn't completely the area, so I went into all four corners and pressed the space bar a few times. I got it. Ha Ha