Excel spreadsheet print preview error "nothing to print"

[Guest]

When I highlight a spreadsheet to print, then choose "print preview," I
receive the error that there's nothing to print. Can someone help? Thanks.

 

[Dave O]

My wife made me promise to not be an @sshole any more, but I need to
ask: is it safe to assume that your spreadsheet contains something in
the specified range to print?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the laugh! Yes, the spreadsheet has text and formulas. I've been
trying to duplicate the same issue in another spreadsheet, but it previews
and prints fine. The biggest problem is that this is my boss's spreadsheet on
his home computer - I can't see it. I'm trying to troubleshoot this issue w/o
being in the actual spreadsheet. (I asked my boss the same thing you asked
me...<G>...at great risk to my job, I'm sure!) Any help you can provide is
appreciated. Thanks. ~~Ann

 

[Dave O]

I tried to recreate it too, to no avail. In your original post you
said something like "when I highlight a spreadsheet to print"... is the
boss trying to do something unusual? Without seeing the actual
sprdsht, your task is a tough one! If I highlight a blank range on a
blank sheet and instruct Excel to print that range, it prints the blank
range. Same deal for a blank range on a non-blank sheet. Somehow,
Excel is interpreting the worksheet as blank, which makes me think that
even though the boss ~thinks~ he's doing one thing, another thing is
actually happening.

The clue may still be in that "when I highlight a spreadsheet to print"
statement. Maybe?

 

[Guest]

I thought of that, too. So when he told me about the error, I told him to
click once on the small square box in the upper left corner of the
spreadsheet - to the left of the column headings and above the row numbers. I
asked him what he saw when he did that and he said the spreadsheet was
highlighted - it was blue. Any clues here? Is there any chance he could have
entered a hinky formula - an incorrect formula wouldn't do this, would it?
I'm stumped...

 

[Dave O]

My sprdsht highlights in a dark greyish color that might be seen as
blue, I guess. You need to see his sprdsht- is it at home because it's
personal data? I have no other ideas, unfortunately.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Ann

Clicking on that square is supposed to hightlight the entire sheet so no problem
there at your boss's end.

What did you think would happen when clicking on that square and why are you
asking about incorrect formulas?


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Guest]

Gord,

I told my boss to click on the square to be sure he highlighted the sheet -
since he is in a different location, I couldn't tell what he was
highlighting.

He continues to get the error on print preview that there's nothing to
print. I'm grasping at straws here to explain why Excel doesn't recognize the
spreadsheet, thus my question about formulas. I have asked him to send me the
spreadsheet as an email attachment so I can see what he's working with.
However, I wasn't able to recreate the error myself here at the office, so
when I get his spreadsheet, I'm not sure I'm going to know what to look for.
Do you have any ideas? Thanks. Ann

 

[Gord Dibben]

Could be a printer driver issue.

I can't think of anything else.


Gord

Gord,

I told my boss to click on the square to be sure he highlighted the sheet -
since he is in a different location, I couldn't tell what he was
highlighting.

He continues to get the error on print preview that there's nothing to
print. I'm grasping at straws here to explain why Excel doesn't recognize the
spreadsheet, thus my question about formulas. I have asked him to send me the
spreadsheet as an email attachment so I can see what he's working with.
However, I wasn't able to recreate the error myself here at the office, so
when I get his spreadsheet, I'm not sure I'm going to know what to look for.
Do you have any ideas? Thanks. Ann

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP