Excel: Fit To Page vs. Full Page Option for Printing a Chart

SUMMARY

When you are printing a chart with Microsoft Excel version 2.20 or later, the following three options in the Page Setup dialog box relate to the size of the printed chart. Note: Excel versions 1.50 and earlier do not offer the Full Page option.

   Option        Description
   ------        -----------

   Screen Size   Excel prints the chart exactly the same size as it
                 appears on the Macintosh screen.

   Fit To Page   Excel prints the chart as large as possible on the
                 selected paper size while keeping the same ratio of
                 height to width.

   Full Page     Excel expands both the chart height and width as far
                 as possible to fit on the page, ignoring the
                 on-screen ratio of height to width.

MORE INFORMATION

As noted above, if you are using Excel 1.50 or earlier, the Full Page option is not available. To print full size charts in these versions of Excel, you must shape the chart on screen so that the Fit To Page option can expand the chart.

The Fit To Page option in Page Setup is intended to expand the chart proportionately to fit the print width and print height you have specified in Page Setup. The key idea is that Excel will expand the chart proportionately to fit the page. In other words, if your chart is short, it will print short and wide regardless of the print height and print width.