Printing a Chart on 8.5 x 14 (Legal size) paper

For what it's worth, I opened your file in Excel 2016, changed nothing, and hit "print" and the chart printed perfectly on legal paper. Unfortunately, I've never used Excel 2007, so I can't weigh in on any version difference that might be getting in the way. Hopefully this bump to the top of the list will put your thread in view of someone more familiar with 2007.

To address post #4, I'm running Windows 10 Pro. The chart shows up in what appears to be legal size proportions. The dimensions listed in the "Size" group of the "Format" tab of the ribbon are 7.63" x 13.38", which would be consistent with a legal size printout with margins.

Legal Size Paper.PNG

Originally Posted by CAntosh

To address post #4, I'm running Windows 10 Pro. The chart shows up in what appears to be legal size proportions. The dimensions listed in the "Size" group of the "Format" tab of the ribbon are 7.63" x 13.38", which would be consistent with a legal size printout with margins.

Mine show as 6.89' x 9.49', with 0.25" margins on three sides, with 0.50" bottom. I would have thought mine would have about the same 7.63" height as yours, since the 8.5" paper height is the same. When I open the Chart that prints correctly (as shown on the image attached to my 1st post), the size is 7.31" x 12.56" (with 0.5" margins all around).

I also tried ALL of the 'standard' paper sizes on the Page Layout->Size dropdown. They all have the same problem. If the selected paper size is larger than 8.5 x 11, then there is white space. If the paper size selected is smaller than 8.5 x 11, then only a portion of the chart is shown, and it does not offer to print portions of the chart on multiple pages.

Then I tried the various paper sizes with the Chart on the attached image file. It exhibits the same results: white space if > 8.5 x 14 is selected, and only a portion of the chart when a smaller paper size is selected, and no offer to print on multiple pages.

And the problem only occurs on Charts. My Data page always prints as it should. There I have the option on the Page Layout page to 'Scale to Fit', whereas that option is grayed out on my charts.

So would you try to print the file I sent on paper sizes larger than 8.5 x 14, and smaller than 8.5 x 11, and see if you have the 'Scale to Fit' option available, so the chart actually changes scale, to fit the paper size? That might help narrow down where the problem is, or is not?

I am also wondering if there may have been an Excel update at some point that I missed? Would be nice if someone who uses Windows 7 & Excel 2007 would chime in.


Harry

Scale remains at 100% and the entire scale-to-fit group remains grayed out on my ribbon. The chart correctly shifts automatically to accommodate whatever size paper I select (giant or tiny). Try as I might, I'm unable to reproduce your situation.

A possible workaround: Instead of creating a chart-sheet, insert the chart as an embedded object over a regular spreadsheet, then resize it to fit the page layout. If your data page prints correctly, maybe the issue is how your chart-sheets are being read. See if you can manually manipulate inserted charts to fill a legal size sheet.

Originally Posted by CAntosh

Scale remains at 100% and the entire scale-to-fit group remains grayed out on my ribbon. The chart correctly shifts automatically to accommodate whatever size paper I select (giant or tiny). Try as I might, I'm unable to reproduce your situation.

A possible workaround: Instead of creating a chart-sheet, insert the chart as an embedded object over a regular spreadsheet, then resize it to fit the page layout. If your data page prints correctly, maybe the issue is how your chart-sheets are being read. See if you can manually manipulate inserted charts to fill a legal size sheet.

Really Strange. This afternoon I spent (wasted?) a couple of hours on this. To get good responses to my searches, I had to use specific words in an exact order--"Excel 2010 Chart autofit option greyed out". (I did not try 2007 instead of 2010, but probably would have gotten the same results.) Lots of the links are so old they no longer work, and some lead you to the messages like 'Your computer has been locked and you need to give us all your money to unlock it', etc.

But I was able to come up with three workarounds that will scale the graph to fit the paper no matter which paper size you select. I printed multiple of the workarounds I found to be sure. I can only assume that I used one of these to create the 8.5 x 14 spreadsheet in the image I attached to my 1st post, but I have no recollection of how I did it.

Here is the procedure:
1. Select the chart you want. (I put mine on pages all by themselves as shown in the file I sent you, rather than on the page with the data).
2. Select the paper size that you want.
3. Pick whichever one of the procedures shown in the following attachments you want to use.
4. Print a page to be sure you got what you wanted.
5. Save As.. and give the file another name. Then in the future when you want to add more data, etc, just open that file.

A. Excel_ExpandImageSize_Method1E.png Go to Chart Tools->Format, and click on the Size button. Set the scale you want. I like this one because if you need a specific aspect ratio, you can do that.
B. Excel_ExpandImageSize_Method2E.png Also on Chart Tools->Format. If you know in advance what size you want, this is the quickest way.
C. Excel_ExpandImageSize_Method3E.png This is the easiest, especially if you are not sure what proportions you want. Click inside the chart, and a 'Chart Area' box will appear. Then as you move around the perimeter, you will see a double headed arrow at the corners, and a 4 headed arrow on the four sides. The corner arrows will expand the chart proportionally, and the 4 headed ones will move the complete chart. Just drag whichever you want, to get your desired result. If you are on the Chart Tools->Format screen, the height & width numbers will change when you drag the corners. Then you can use Method 2 to change the height without having the width change.

{I have never been able to get this forum software to load attached images in the order I want them to be, no matter how I try. So you will see these in the order of #2, then #1, and finally #3,}

Somewhere between Excel 2010 and your 2016, Excel fixed it so just selecting the Chart paper size will do an automatic expansion.

Unless you or someone else jumps in within the next few days with alternatives, I will mark this thread as Solved.

Harry

I'm glad you worked it out, and thanks for posting your solution. Good luck!