How to Print a Chart in Excel

Creating a compelling chart in Excel is a great first step, but presenting that data effectively often means getting it off the screen and onto paper. Whether it's for a team meeting, a shareholder report, or a personal project, knowing how to print your chart correctly is essential. This guide will walk you through several methods for printing charts in Excel, from a quick single-chart printout to more advanced page setup options that ensure a professional result every time.

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Printing a Single Chart on a Full Page

Often, you just need a clean, full-page printout of a single chart without any distracting spreadsheet cells around it. This is the simplest and most direct way to print your visuals in Excel.

Follow these steps to print one chart by itself:

1. Select the Chart: Click anywhere on the chart you wish to print. You'll know it's selected when you see a border appear around its edges.
2. Open the Print Menu: Navigate to the top-left corner and click File, then select Print from the left-hand menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P (or Cmd + P on a Mac).
3. Check the Print Preview: In the print preview window on the right, you should see only your selected chart. It will be centered and sized to fit the page automatically.
4. Adjust and Print: Choose your desired printer, select the number of copies, and click the Print button.

This method is perfect for when the chart is the star of the show and you want it to fill the entire page for maximum impact.

Printing a Chart with Its Accompanying Data

Sometimes, the context is just as important as the visual. You may need to print your chart along with the data table it's based on to help your audience understand the numbers behind the visualization. The best way to do this is by setting a specific "print area."

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How to Set a Print Area

Setting a print area tells Excel exactly which portion of your worksheet you want to print, ignoring everything else on the sheet.

1. Select Your Data and Chart: Click and drag your mouse to highlight all the cells containing the data you want to print, as well as the chart itself. Make sure your entire selection includes both the table and the visual.
2. Navigate to Page Layout: Go to the Page Layout tab on the Excel ribbon.
3. Set the Print Area: In the Page Setup section, click on the Print Area dropdown and select Set Print Area. A faint gray line will appear around your selection, confirming the print area has been set.
4. Preview and Print: Now, go to File > Print (or use Ctrl + P). The print preview will show only the specific area you just defined, with both your data and your chart included.

To remove this selection later, you can simply go back to Page Layout > Print Area > Clear Print Area. This is a great way to create a focused, professional-looking handout that combines raw numbers with a clear visual summary.

Moving a Chart to its Own Sheet for Perfect Printing

For important charts that you might reprint often or include in formal reports, moving the chart to its own dedicated worksheet (called a "Chart Sheet") is a powerful technique. This separates the chart from the data sheet, eliminating clutter and giving you more control over formatting and printing.

Here’s how to move your chart to a new sheet:

1. Right-click the Chart: Find your chart on the spreadsheet, right-click anywhere on it, and select Move Chart... from the dropdown menu.
2. Choose "New sheet": A dialog box will appear. Select the option for New sheet.
3. Name the Sheet: You can give this new Chart Sheet a descriptive name, like "Q4 Sales Performance Chart" or "Website Traffic Trends."
4. Click OK: The chart will instantly disappear from your data sheet and reappear on a new, neatly formatted tab in your workbook.

Now, your chart has its own home. When you click on its tab and go to File > Print, it will be perfectly formatted for a full-page printout by default. It’s a clean and organized way to manage your key visuals.

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Customizing Your Printout for Pro Results

Once you know how to print your chart, the next step is making sure it looks its best on paper. Excel’s print settings offer a surprisingly deep level of control to help you customize the final output.

You can find these options under File > Print in the Settings section, or under the Page Layout tab.

Adjusting Page Orientation

Some charts, especially those showing trends over a long period (like line or bar charts), look much better in a horizontal format.

• Go to File > Print > Portrait Orientation.
• Click the dropdown and change it to Landscape Orientation. The preview will update immediately so you can see if it looks better.

Using Scaling to Fit Everything Perfectly

Is your chart or data area getting awkwardly cut off and split across multiple pages? The scaling settings are your solution.

• Under File > Print > Settings, find the last option, which usually says No Scaling by default.
• Click on it to see the options:

Adding Headers and Footers for Context

For a truly professional touch, you can add headers and footers to provide context like the date, a report title, or page numbers.

1. Navigate to the Page Layout tab.
2. Click the small arrow icon in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup section to open a dialog box.
3. Go to the Header/Footer tab and click Custom Header... or Custom Footer....
4. Here, you can add text, page numbers, dates, and even your file name to the left, center, or right sections of the header or footer. This information will appear on every page you print from that sheet.

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Common Printing Problems and How to Solve Them

Even with the right steps, you can run into a few common issues. Here are quick fixes for the most frequent Excel printing headaches.

• Issue: My chart is printing across two or more pages. Solution: This is almost always a scaling problem. Go to File > Print and change the scaling setting to Fit Sheet on One Page. Alternatively, move the chart to its own sheet, which formats it for a single page automatically.
• Issue: The gridlines from my spreadsheet are appearing in the background of my printout. Solution: On the Page Layout tab, look for the Sheet Options section. Underneath Gridlines, you will see two checkboxes. Make sure the Print checkbox is unchecked.
• Issue: The text on my chart is too small or hard to read when printed. Solution: Before printing, adjust the font sizes directly on the chart itself. Click on the chart title, axis labels, or data labels, and increase the font size from the Home tab. Moving the chart to its own sheet can also help, as Excel optimizes its resolution for a full-page view.

Final Thoughts

Mastering how to print charts in Excel transforms your data from a simple spreadsheet entry into a tangible, shareable asset. By using techniques like setting a defined print area, moving charts to their own sheets, and fine-tuning page layout settings, you can reliably produce clear and professional reports that make your data easy to understand.

Manually creating, formatting, and printing charts from spreadsheets works, but it can quickly become repetitive, especially when reports are needed regularly. When we built Graphed , our goal was to eliminate this manual grind. We automated the data-to-dashboard workflow, allowing you to connect sources like Google Analytics or your CRM and instantly generate live dashboards you can share with a simple link instead of printing. Asking your data questions in plain English gives you charts in seconds, saving you from the slow process of building and formatting them for every new request.