Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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 January 3, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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.

  5. Use the Print Quality drop-down list to select the resolution of print quality you want to use.
  6. 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, 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

Showing Only Added Text with Track Changes

Do you want to change how Track Changes displays the markup in your document? Here's how you can completely hide deleted ...

Discover More

Formatting E-mail using AutoFormat

If you copy the text of an e-mail message to a Word document, you may notice that the formatting of the text leaves a lot ...

Discover More

Adding Automatic Time Stamps

Your computer knows the current date and time, and Word provides ways you can get that date and time into your document. ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Out of Kilter Borders

Borders not printing properly? It could be any one of a number of reasons causing the problem. This tip provides some ...

Discover More

Printing a Single Column in Multiple Columns

Ever printed out a worksheet only to find that you have text only at the left side of each page? You can use more of each ...

Discover More

Printing without Opening

Want to print one or more workbooks without the need of actually opening the file? It's easy to do when you rely on ...

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.

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 two more than 0?

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.