Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 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: Displaying the Print Dialog Box in a Macro.
Before printing anything in Excel, it is not unusual to display the Print dialog box. This allows you to make changes to how the print job will be handled by the printer driver.
If you are creating a macro that is used to print information from your worksheets, you may want to display the Print dialog box programmatically. The user can then choose to print, directly from within your macro.
To add this capability, simply include the following macro line:
bTemp = Application.Dialogs(xlDialogPrint).Show
The Show method results in the Print dialog box being displayed. When this code line is finished, bTemp will be either True or False. If True, it means that the user clicked on OK in the dialog box, thereby printing something. If False, then the user either clicked on Cancel or the Close button to close the dialog box without printing.
You might wonder if this approach will work in Excel 2013 and later versions seeing as the program now uses what Redmond refers to as "Backstage view" to intiate printing. (Just press Ctrl+P and you can see the printing options in Backstage view.) Fortunately, it does. Later versions of Excel dutifully displays the Print dialog box as it appeared in earlier versions of the program, bypassing completely the need for what you see in Backstage view.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10321) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Displaying the Print Dialog Box in a Macro.
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 2013 For Dummies today!
When using a macro to process information in a worksheet, you may want that macro to figure out how many columns are ...
Discover MoreMacros are often used to process the data in a worksheet. If that data includes dates that need to be processed, you'll ...
Discover MoreMacros depend on the use of variables to do their work. This tip examines how variables are declared in a macro, using ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2014-11-01 14:39:11
Morris Manning
If you prefer to display the Print Preview Dialog (my preference) the following code does the job.
ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets.PrintPreview 'Brings up Print Preview Dialog
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 © 2021 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 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: 
Comments