Today you will
- set margins, orientation and scale in print preview
- make a wide practice sheet fit on one landscape A4 page
- do the same with one of your own project spreadsheets
Warm-up
Think of the widest spreadsheet you have made so far. If you printed it right now, what would go wrong first?
Orientation is the way the page faces. Portrait is tall and landscape is wide.
Margins are the blank border around the page. Narrow margins leave more room for columns.
Scale to fit shrinks your sheet to fit the page. Too much shrinking makes the numbers hard to read.
A4 is the paper size used in Ireland. Some apps start on Letter, so change it.
Example
A Work Experience hours sheet with eight columns gets cut off on portrait but fits on landscape.
You will make a wide practice sheet and get it to print on one landscape A4 page. Watch your teacher first, then follow the steps in the box below.
Copy this table and paste it into cell {{cell:A1}} of your new sheet.
| Item | Supplier | Net (€) | VAT (€) | Gross (€) | Qty | Line total (€) | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tote bags | Local print shop | 4.00 | 0.92 | 4.92 | 50 | 246.00 | Ordered | For market stall |
| Table hire | Community hall | 25.00 | 0.00 | 25.00 | 1 | 25.00 | Booked | Saturday only |
| Card reader fee | Payment app | 12.50 | 0.00 | 12.50 | 1 | 12.50 | Monthly | Flat fee estimate |
You are finished when print preview shows one landscape A4 page with all nine headings easy to read.
Columns are still cut off
Check the paper is A4 and the margins are Narrow, then fit the scale to 1 page wide.
The numbers are too small to read
You shrank it too much. Hide a column you don't need instead of going below about 80%.
A nearly blank second page appears
Set the height to 1 page, or press {{kbd:Ctrl+End}} to find stray data.
Independent Practice
- Open a wide project spreadsheet in {{code:sm3}}. If you don't have one, copy {{code:sm3_print_setup_practice}} as {{code:sm3_print_setup_applied}} and add two columns from your project.
- In {{menu:File -> Print}}, set Landscape, A4 and Narrow margins.
- Fit the scale to 1 page wide, then check the preview.
- Save the preview as a PDF called {{code:sm3_print_preview}} and upload it to {{code:sm3}}.
- If it won't save, paste a picture of the preview into a document called {{code:sm3_print_preview_evidence}} in {{code:sm3}}.
VET (Vocational Education Task): Keep this PDF as evidence.
- Print preview shows my sheet on one landscape A4 page.
- All headings and numbers are easy to read.
- {{code:sm3_print_preview}} is saved in {{code:sm3}}.
- My spreadsheet is saved with the new page setup.
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