Top Margin Ignored when Printing

When using Excel, the top margin of Steve's worksheet appears correctly. When the worksheet is actually printed on his HP Officejet 6500A Plus printer, the top margin is ignored, and the header is at the very top of the printed page. The top margins print just fine in Word and other applications, so Steve doesn't suspect his printer settings. He has tried ensuring "draft" quality is unchecked, but he doesn't know what else to check.

There are a couple of things to check here. First, you should check to make sure that the paper size specified in Excel is the same as the actual paper size you are using. The easiest way to do this is to display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon and click the Size tool. The options presented show you which page size you've selected; it should match what is in your printer. (If they don't match, then what is actually printed can be far different than what you expect.)

If that isn't the issue, then take your worksheet to someone else's computer—one that uses a different printer—and see if it prints correctly there. If it does, then you know that the problem is with your system and/or your printer; this should help you track down the issue.

If the worksheet doesn't print correctly on the other printer, then try printing a different worksheet (in an entirely different workbook) on your system. If it prints correctly, then it is probable that the problem workbook is somehow corrupted. Workbook corruption can exhibit itself in various ways; this could be one of them. If that is the case, then you'll want to reconstruct the workbook from scratch, copying formulas and values, as necessary, from the problem worksheet.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (13107) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.