Along with the multitude of features Microsoft Excel offers to make data organization and analysis easy, it also provides the ability to print professional-looking PDFs directly from your Excel sheet. Excel to PDF conversion is often used in corporate or professional settings, especially when presenting data to clients or senior management. Below are five secrets to ensure your Excel to PDF conversions are seamless. Don’t skip the last one!
#1: Set Your Page View
Did you know you can select only a specific part of an Excel sheet to print? Let’s say you have some calculations on your Excel sheet. At the same time, you also have relevant notes or information on the sheet that you don’t want to print on your PDF. Below is how you set your page view to print only what’s desired.
- Adjust Print Area: Navigate to View > Page Break Preview and visually adjust the rows and columns for your print. Move the blue lines around to achieve the desired outcome. Anything other than the selected area will appear grey in this preview mode so you can see and confirm your selection. Once satisfied with your adjustments, click the “Normal” button next to “Page Break Preview” to exit preview mode.
- Set Desired Page Breaks: If you don’t manually set page breaks before converting your Excel to PDF, a particular section will sometimes be divided between pages. To avoid that, go to Page Break Preview as explained above and move the blue lines to the desired page length. In this preview mode, page numbers will appear in grey in the selected area so it is easier to see which part stays on which page.
#2: Optimize Your Page Layout
Page layout optimization is essential to achieve an optimal view and readable PDF.
- Select Proper Orientation: Select landscape orientation if the width of your print area is greater than the length. If not, select portrait orientation, which is generally the default.
- Adjust Margins: Margin widths can vary from slim to wide depending on need. Widths are customizable to achieve maximum Excel to PDF print area if needed.
- Add Background: Set a company logo or background for your printed PDF to reflect professionalism in your business documents. Ensure the contrast is good so the text is readable.
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- Set Rows Or Columns to Repeat: Often, we need to repeat headers on an Excel sheet so that each page of data created has those headers. Navigate to Print Titles, go to “Rows to Repeat at Top,” and enter the reference of the rows you want to repeat on each page in your print, for instance, “$1:$4”. Similarly, if desired, you can set columns on the left of your Excel sheet to repeat on each printed page.
#3: Maintain Consistent Formatting
Excel offers many formatting choices. However, not all choices translate well when printing from Excel to PDF. Here are some tips to ensure consistency across your document.
- Use Standard Fonts: Where possible, use universally recognized fonts such as Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial.
- Align Content: Proper content alignment within the cells is essential to produce a professional-looking document. Make sure your content is consistently aligned, both vertically and horizontally.
- Indent for Clarity: When working with headings and subheadings, indenting your content creates visual clarity for the readers and helps identify sections and sub-sections quickly.
- Use Format Painter: The easiest way to maintain consistency across a document is to copy the format from one section to the other. Format Painter is your tool for that.
- Merge Cells and Wrap Text: It is likely that content in certain cells bleeds over to another column. Make sure to merge cells or wrap text or do both, as applicable.
Pro Tip: A good alternative to merging cells is to center your content across the selected cells. Watch our YouTube short to learn how to do this.
#4: Strategize Placement of Visual Elements for Flawless Excel to PDF Conversion
Graphs, charts, and images can enhance the quality and professionalism of your document. However, you must be careful in maintaining the quality and placement of these elements. Below are a few ways to do that:
- Correct Sizing: When placing graphs or charts onto your Excel sheet, remember that they should be neither too large nor too small, just the appropriate size to fit your printed page.
- High-Resolution Graphics: It is essential to insert high-resolution graphics into your document so the images don’t blur when maximized or size adjusted for printing.
- Strategic Placement: When placing visual elements on your Excel sheet, it is a good idea to preview your print carefully. Check all visual elements placed on the sheet to ensure that your data or text is not overridden by these elements.
#5: Implement Excel to PDF Pro Functionality
Many of the pro users do not know of these Excel offerings.
- Group Similarly Structured Sheets: If you group multiple sheets on your Excel workbook together, the ‘Print to PDF’ function allows users to print the entire workbook into one PDF. Grouping eliminates the need to print multiple PDFs and merge them.
- Professional Headers and Footers: When you Print Preview your document, you can see “Page Setup.” This page setup allows users to assign page numbers and add custom header and footer text. Businesses and establishments need to add these small yet powerful elements to make their documents look more professional.
- Math Functions With Cell Errors: Often, formulas in a cell may not necessarily be wrong; instead, the underlying data may be absent or insufficient. In such a scenario, the formula shows an error such as CALC!, #DIV/0!, etc. When printing, the “Sheet” Tab on “Page Setup” gives the option to choose what to print on your Excel sheet for a cell that is erroneous. You can choose between blank, “–“, “#N/A”, or value as displayed.
Conclusion
Excel to PDF conversion is easy. Microsoft Excel offers excellent functions and features to create professional-looking PDFs without any fancy software. Use these five secrets to create impressive documents and maximize your business impact. Like this article? Check out more interesting reads on Excel here.
