XL: Thick Borders May Not Be Printed in Low Printer Resolution

ID: Q163230

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you print thick borders in Microsoft Excel, the borders may be partially printed, or the borders may not be printed at all.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur when you set the resolution to 150 dots per inch (dpi) or lower in the Page tab of the Page Setup dialog box, and then print thick borders in Microsoft Excel.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Increase the Resolution of the Printout

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.

2. In the Page Setup dialog box, click the Page tab.

3. Select a resolution of 300 dpi or higher in the Print Quality list and 

   click OK.
When you print a workbook that contains borders, all of the borders are printed.

Method 2: Change the Printer Driver Settings

Changing how dark the printer prints can affect how the borders are printed. Disabling dithering and increasing the intensity of the printout may allow the borders to be printed. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.

2. In the Page Setup dialog box, click Options. 

   The properties for your printer driver are displayed.
3. Click the Graphics tab.

4. Under Dithering, click None. Move the slider to set the Intensity to 0 

   (the darkest setting). Click OK twice.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: 7.00 97 heavy 

Keywords          : kbprint xlformat xlprint xlwin 
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: January 8, 1999