Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Setting Print Quality.

Setting Print Quality

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 26, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

Many printers on the market these days provide a bevy of different features. It is not unusual, for instance, for printers to be able to print on different paper stocks, use different inks, and pull paper from different trays. Some printers even allow you to pick different levels of quality for output.

Print quality is often measured in DPI, or dots per inch. This is a measure of printer resolution and simply means the number of individual ink dots that a printer can produce within a linear inch. Some printer drivers used with Windows allow you to specify which resolution you want to use for a particular print job. If your printer allows you to adjust this setting, you can take advantage of it in Excel in this manner:

  1. Display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the small icon at the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup group. Excel displays the Page Setup dialog box.
  3. Make sure the Page tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Page tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  4. Use the Print Quality drop-down list to select the resolution of print quality you want to use.
  5. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8734) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Setting Print Quality.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing Kerning

When you need to adjust the space Word uses between characters, you need to adjust what is called "kerning." This tip ...

Discover More

Limiting Precision

There may be times you need to limit the amount of precision Excel uses in its calculations. Here is one way to ...

Discover More

Jumping to the Real Last Cell

Jumping to the last cell in a worksheet should be easy, but you may not always get the results that you expect. This tip ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Defining a Custom Paper Size

Need to print your worksheet on a non-standard paper size? Excel is rather limited in printing to such papers, and here ...

Discover More

Printing a Number of Different Pages

If you don't need to print an entire workbook, it can be confusing to figure out how to print just certain pages. This ...

Discover More

Automatic Selection of Portrait or Landscape

Should you print in portrait or in landscape? The decision can greatly affect the way your printout looks. Wouldn't it be ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 9 - 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.