No Margin Reserved for Binding on Duplex Printer

SUMMARY

Microsoft Excel reserves no margin for binding if a worksheet is printed on a printer capable of duplex printing (printing on both sides of a sheet). These margins would be seen on the left or right of the page for long-edge binding or on the top or bottom of the page for short-edge binding. Duplex printing is strictly a function of the printer driver and Excel doesn't check the driver to set margins.

A workaround for this behavior is to print the odd pages of a document with a large left or top margin, reinsert the pages into the printer, and print the even-numbered pages with a large right or bottom margin.

Word for Windows has this capability built in. It can be accomplished by choosing Format Document and marking the Mirror Margins checkbox. Word does not do this by checking the driver to see if the printer is set for duplex printing, but uses its own internal routines. Thus, Word can reserve these margins whether or not the printer is capable of duplex printing.