Shapes printing distorted (eg, flattened, squashed circles)

[ceravis]

Shapes printing distorted (eg, flattened, squashed circles) - Excel 2007 and possibly earlier versions


Note that I posted this Sept. 10th at http://www.excelforum.com/showthread.php?t=614091 and have yet to receive a response, so I thought I'd try here... sorry for the cross-post .
I also searched quite a bit here and elsewhere, and http://www.mrexcel.com/board2/viewtopic.php?t=250808 is the only reference I can find to the problem, and that has no solution yet.


This seems to be a strange Excel bug ("feature"?) - when I print (or Print Preview) a sheet with shapes, the shapes print a little wider than they should be, resulting in a squashed looking, disproportional shape. For instance, a 3x3" circle prints at about 3.25" wide x 3" tall, while a 2.75" wide x 3" tall circle prints just about 3x3".

Anyone know what could be causing this in Excel? I'm using Excel 2007, and I'm told the problem exhibits in earlier versions, though I haven't tested this myself. I've tried printing to 3 different printers, so I'm pretty sure it's not the driver, and it doesn't occur with any other software (e.g., Word, OpenOffice Calc, etc.), so I'm pretty sure it's not something wrong with my Windows Vista installation. Also, it doesn't make a difference if I lock the aspect ratio of the shape, or if I specify "Don't move or size with cells" under Object Positioning.


Here are some examples:

1. Created a circle at 3x3" in Normal view.

2. Switched to Page Layout view, now it's 3" tall x 3.21" wide - didn't change anything else.

3. Switched to Print Preview, now it looks even more distorted than Page Layout view. This is very similar to how it looks when printed - measured about 3" tall x 3.25" wide.

4. Resized the circle to 3" tall x 2.75" wide in Normal view.

5. Switched to Print Preview (without doing anything else), now it looks almost perfectly circular.

6. When I switch over to Page Layout view now, Excel reports the circle is now 3" tall x 2.96" wide.


I would really appreciate any ideas how to fix or workaround this (other than manually resizing to compensate, of course - I and my coworkers deal with far too many of these files) - I've scoured the net and haven't come up with much of anything...

Thanks!

 

[Bagnon]

In Excel 2007 proportions also change by only zooming in and out!

Make a 1x1 circle at 100% zoom.

Lock aspect ratio in "Size and Properties"

Zoom to 56% (e.g.) and now the size is magically .98 x 1!

They also don't print proportionally either.

WTF Excel 2007?

 

[bc4240]

I realize this is an old thread but it seems to be a bit unclear. You should:

1. Set your zoom in 2007 to 100%,
2. Set the orientation of the sheet to either landscape or letter,
3. Establish your outside magins of the printed page to where you want them to be.

Once this is done you will see a preforated line on the normal view that defines the outer edge of what will be printed(If you choose a cell within the line and them drag and select all the cells within the area, and then select this as the print area you can see this area in page break view with a blue line around it).

Then adjust your columns and fonts to fit inside this preforated line (or blue line in page break view). You can add shapes and developer tools to the area without fear of distortion. Creating the sheet first with disregard to how it will be printed is a small nightmare to go back and constrain within the margins of the page.

Set your stage first before creating the worksheet.

BC

 

[doramider7]

I have found that using display properties to jack the DPI up by 25% causes Excel to jack everything up by the same amount without telling you it is doing so. For example, selecting a 10 point font on screen is bumped up to 12.5 points, but the font selection still shows this at 10 points. Row heights, which are a factor of font size, are similarly bumped up.

The solution I have found is to keep the DPI at normal under display properties, but then use the appearance tab to set the font size to extra large. This enlarges everything on screen including menu items, dialog boxes etc., but keeps the aspect ratios correct.

My display setting are on normal and I still get the distortions.

 

[bc4240]

did you uncheck move shape with cells in the shape properties window that may help

 

[syaz38]

I have solved this problem by changing my printer setting.

I'm using my office printer: Konica Minolta C252/C252P PS.

At the "Advanced" tab --> PostScript Options --> "Disable" PostScript Pass Through.

It works for me. I've try it with my colleague and it work too.

Please try to change PostScript setting of your printer.

Hope it work to all of you.