Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Controlling the Printer in a Macro.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 6, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
Many of the printers available on the market these days have some amazing capabilities. Most of these capabilities are accessible by displaying the Properties dialog box for the printer. As you are developing your own macros, you may wonder if it is possible to access these capabilities from within the macro.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this can be done because the printer drivers don't typically make the features of printers available in a way that can be understood and accessed from the object model used by VBA. (Boy, was that a mouthful!) Instead, you would have to use the actual Windows API, and even then, not all features may be accessible.
There are some workarounds that can be used, however. You can use VBA to select different printers to which you can direct your output. This means that you can create different printer definitions—in Windows—and then use those definitions as the target for your output.
For example, you could use the Printers folder in Windows to set up a printer named HP Regular Paper. That printer definition can be set to print on regular paper, by default. You can then set up another printer definition named HP Glossy Paper and set it to print, by default, to a tray that may contain glossy paper. With the two printers defined, you can then use VBA to switch between the two. For instance, if you wanted to print to the printer definition for the glossy paper, you could use the following in your macro:
Application.ActivePrinter = "HP Glossy Paper"
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9178) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Controlling the Printer in a Macro.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
You can modify Excel's BeforePrint event handler to change how the printing process occurs. Unfortunately, though, Excel ...
Discover MoreWant to print out the fastest possible copy of your worksheet? You do so by printing a draft, discussed in this tip.
Discover MoreNeed to only print out certain rows from your data? It's easy to do if you apply the filtering or sorting techniques ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2022-01-20 18:20:16
Sarah V
How does one go about creating a printer definition for a specific set of presets, as noted above (the HP Regular Paper and HP Glossy)?
Is it something that one does through printer properties, or are you basically adding the same physical printer multiple times, each time setting the preferences to what you want?
Thanks
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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:
Comments