CompuServe Thread

Dennis, Excel is really the culprit and we have been asking MS for several years to make some fixes/enhancements in the area of column widths and row heights (one request: to be able to specify an absolute measurement for each that would be maintained when switching printer drivers). One thing that helps a lot on widths is to make sure that the "Normal" font definition is a screen/printer font that is widely available (Arial is a good choice) on all systems regardless of selected printer. Excel recalculates the widths based on the size of whatever font is substituted for the "Normal" font. In Excel 4, the Normal was MSSansSerif, so it ALWAYS got substituted since this screen font cannot be printed on any laser printer. Even if the same font is used (e.g., Arial), the widths will be resolution dependent and will change if switched between 300 and 600 dpi driver settings. The row heights are a worse problem, particularly when switching between PCL5, PCL5E and PostScript. The only good work-around here is to use Excel 5's fit to page formatting option. Otherwise, there's no magic solution that I know of. Sorry. – Dick Minnick [Ford],74417,51 @ 10-May-1995, 23:32:41 EST [Troy, MI]