Estimating size of page with Calc

users
#1

I am just creating a spreadsheet with calculations of costs for some music projects. It uses a series of sheet (4) and on the last sheet I would like it to print off on a single US Letter size page.

I am curious, how does one make sure that the printed lines all end up on one page? It seems to me that Calc has a very poor WYSIWYG representation of a printed page (unlike Writer and Impress).

Are there any tips that I am missing as far as making sure the page prints off okay to a US letter size? Thus far it prints either too wide or too long for the page, and, it seems like fitting on a particular page size is more of a trial and error exercise.

Is there a way to have the sheets show as pages rather than just a series of unlimited rows and columns?

Thanks for any help.

Marc

#2

Hello Marc,

Are there any tips that I am missing as far as making sure the page
prints off okay to a US letter size? Thus far it prints either too wide
or too long for the page, and, it seems like fitting on a particular
page size is more of a trial and error exercise.

My opinion, FWIW;

To me, it seems like you're using the wrong tool for presenting your data. It's fine to do the "grunt" work in Calc, but it's easier to
present the output in Writer. Possibly in tabular form. You can cut
the cell(s) you want and "Paste Special - Link" into the correct place
in Writer. This has the beauty that, if anything changes in the
spreadsheet, that change is reflected in the Writer document.

#3

Hi Brad

Hello Marc,

Are there any tips that I am missing as far as making sure the page
prints off okay to a US letter size? Thus far it prints either too wide
or too long for the page, and, it seems like fitting on a particular
page size is more of a trial and error exercise.

My opinion, FWIW;

To me, it seems like you're using the wrong tool for presenting your data. It's fine to do the "grunt" work in Calc, but it's easier to
present the output in Writer. Possibly in tabular form. You can cut
the cell(s) you want and "Paste Special - Link" into the correct place
in Writer. This has the beauty that, if anything changes in the
spreadsheet, that change is reflected in the Writer document.

Ah! So this is perhaps what I am looking for, and, you are right, obviously the wrong tool.

So, just to get it straight, if, for example, my first 3 sheets are arranged for input and reporting on monitor only, Instead of having "sheet 4" set up to output to a printer, I could then have the data display and print according to a page format in Writer? Do I then need to have the same writer page open at the same time as the spreadsheet to have the data display on all sheets?

Thanks for the help.

Marc

#4

Hi Marc,

I think not so complicated :-), calc has page styles applicable individually
for every sheet.

- [F11] styles and formatting.
- Select page styles (second icon)
- Create a new page style (right-clic on one style - New) .
- In the Page tab, select the paper size.
- In the Sheet tab - Scale, you can select how many pages to fit print
range.
- Apply the style to the sheet, by selecting the sheet and double click the
style in the navigator.

Regards.
Miguel Ángel.

#5

I am just creating a spreadsheet with calculations of costs for some music projects. It uses a series of sheet (4) and on the last sheet I would like it to print off on a single US Letter size page. I am curious, how does one make sure that the printed lines all end up on one page?

o Select either all the material on the last sheet - or else the entire last sheet (by clicking the square where the row and column headers meet).
o Go to Format | Print Ranges > | Define.
o Go to Format | Page... | Sheet | Scale. For "Scaling mode" select "Fit print range(s) on number of pages" and for "Number of pages" select 1.

It seems to me that Calc has a very poor WYSIWYG representation of a printed page (unlike Writer and Impress). [...] Is there a way to have the sheets show as pages rather than just a series of unlimited rows and columns?

Have you tried both File | Page Preview and View

Page Break Preview? An alternative way to

achieve the above is to use Page Break Preview and then to drag the page break appropriately - in this case to the foot of the data.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker

#6

Did you try
menu:File>Page Preview
and
menu:View>Page Layout
?

#7

Hello Marc,

Ah! So this is perhaps what I am looking for, and, you are right,
obviously the wrong tool.

Well I wouldn't go so far as to say "..obviously.." but there's a
distinct possibility that it's not the best option available.

So, just to get it straight, if, for example, my first 3 sheets are
arranged for input and reporting on monitor only, Instead of having
"sheet 4" set up to output to a printer, I could then have the data
display and print according to a page format in Writer? Do I then need

Yes, you could.

to have the same writer page open at the same time as the spreadsheet
to have the data display on all sheets?

You can, but you don't *have* to. If you work in the spreadsheet, and
save all changes, the next time you open the Writer document, you'll be
warned that it contains links to data from external sources, and asks if
you want that data updated to reflect any changes that have occurred.

Obviously, you'd answer "Yes". :slight_smile:

Also note that Brian & M.A. offer alternatives using just Calc that may
suit your needs as well, or better, than my suggestion.

#8

Hi everyone,

Is there a way to have the sheets show as pages rather than just a
series of unlimited rows and columns?

Thanks for any help.

Marc

Did you try
menu:File>Page Preview
and
menu:View>Page Layout
?

I am just playing around with Page-Preview and Layout as well as the suggested option of using Writer. While both have their advantages and disadvantages, as someone pointed out to me offline, the whole process can be a little of a pain to get right.

I am most likely going to go with the page setup from Calc without Writer as I would like to later pass along just one file to other music groups so that they can also make use of the file.

In the process, it will force me to take a closer look at how Calc can work in setting up page layouts on paper.

Sigh, if only we could do away with paper prints!

Thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted on my end product.

Cheers,

Marc

#9

Hi :slight_smile:
I've always used Andreas' method. When you get back to the spreadsheet it
then starts showing a slightly darker line to show the border of the
printed pages.

I suspect that the colour of the page border (non-printing character type
of thing) could be changed in

Tools - Options - Appearance - Spreadsheet - "Automatic page breaks"

Then it's a case of adjusting the width of the columns to force the right
columns to fit. I often have empty tiny thin columns to separate out
important columns such as sub-totals or end-of-quarter or whatever and
often use those at the edges of pages too so that it's easier for me to
adjust if the file needs to be printed from a different machine or onto a
different printer.

It hadn't occurred to me to use Writer or Draw to view the spreadsheet. I
can imagine a few potential problems that might or might not even happen
anyway. It sounds well worth experimenting with as it could make things
even easier.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: