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: Printing without Opening.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 21, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
If you need to quickly print the contents of a workbook without individually opening the workbook yourself (manually), you can do so by using one of the helpful features of Windows. Simply follow these steps:
The only thing printed in the workbook is the single worksheet that was selected when the workbook was last closed. It is also printed to whatever you are using as the current printer. If you want to print using different specifications (i.e., a different printer or area of the workbook) then you must first open the workbook in order to print.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9839) 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: Printing without Opening.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!
Getting your printouts to appear on a printed page exactly as you want can be a challenge at times. What if you want to ...
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 MoreExcel allows you to repeat rows at the top of every page of a printout. If you want to repeat rows at the bottom of every ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2025-03-21 12:13:38
jamies
Re "current printer"
Is that the one that Excel was set to use from the session that the selected file was "Save"d from ?
Or
Is that the one that Excel was set to use from the last Excel session that was closed ?
Or
Is that the one that Excel was set to use from the current Excel session was last set to use ?
Or
Is that the one that the last Windows session was set to consider as the "Default"
And
What if the windows session no longer considers that printer to be part of the working environment ?
Re point 4
"Windows loads Excel (if it is not already open), opens the workbook, and prints it. The workbook is then closed."
isn't this article to be about NIOT opening the file ?
If the file is opened, Windows will, for NTFS filestores record the time and date that the file was accessed -
Probably for OneDrive, and other filestore structures -
So -
take a copy of the file, putting that into another folder, or temporary store
and work on that !
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