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How to Fix Excel Cell Fill Color Not Printing
Question details
The user is unable to print cell background or fill colors in an Excel worksheet, even though the text font colors print correctly.
- Product
- Excel
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Attempting to print an Excel worksheet that contains colored cell backgrounds or highlighted fill colors.
- Observed behavior
- The printed physical document is missing all cell background and fill colors, leaving them blank, while font colors continue to print as expected.
Verify that your printer has sufficient color ink and is physically capable of printing in color. You can print a quick test page from another application, like a web browser or Word document, to confirm your printer hardware is functioning normally.
Disable Black and White Printing in Excel Page Setup
The most common reason for missing cell backgrounds is the 'Black and white' setting being accidentally enabled in Excel's native print settings.
Excel includes a specific setting designed to save colored ink by stripping background graphics and fill colors during printing. Turning this off allows your colors to process correctly.
Open your worksheet in Microsoft Excel and click on the 'Page Layout' tab located in the top ribbon menu.
Click the small dialog box launcher arrow in the bottom-right corner of the 'Page Setup' group to open the advanced settings.
Go to the 'Sheet' tab within the Page Setup window. Under the 'Print' section, uncheck the 'Black and white' box. Click 'OK' to save.
Press 'Ctrl + P' to open the Print Preview. You should now see the cell fill colors in the preview. Click 'Print' to confirm the fix.
Verify Printer Driver Color Preferences
Your system's printer properties might be forcing grayscale or black-and-white output regardless of what settings you choose inside Excel.
Export the Worksheet to PDF Before Printing
Saving the file as a PDF creates a flattened digital version of your worksheet, which can bypass Excel-specific printing glitches and preserve your fill colors.
Print Excel Spreadsheets with Cell Colors in WPS Office
If Microsoft Excel continues to drop cell fill colors during printing, you can easily handle the task in WPS Office. WPS Spreadsheets provides accurate print rendering and is fully compatible with Microsoft Excel formats, ensuring your colored cells print exactly as they appear on your screen.
- 1. Open File in WPS Spreadsheets: Download and install WPS Office, then open your existing Excel (.xlsx) file in WPS Spreadsheets.
- 2. Access Page Setup: Navigate to the 'Page Layout' tab on the top ribbon and click the 'Page Setup' icon.
- 3. Uncheck Black and White: Switch to the 'Sheet' tab in the setup window and ensure 'Black and white' is completely unchecked.
- 4. Print the Document: Press 'Ctrl + P' to preview the document, verify your background colors are visible, and click 'Print'.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Excel only printing font colors and not cell backgrounds?
This typically occurs when the 'Black and white' printing option is enabled in Excel's Page Setup settings. This setting strips background colors to save ink, but may still print font colors if the printer processes text elements differently than background graphics.
Can 'Draft quality' settings affect how Excel prints cell colors?
Yes. If 'Draft quality' is checked in the Page Setup menu under the Sheet tab, Excel will omit cell gridlines and most background graphics or fill colors in order to process and print the document much faster.
Will Conditional Formatting fill colors print normally?
Conditional formatting fill colors will print normally as long as your printer is configured for color output and the 'Black and white' sheet setting is turned off. If conditional formatting colors specifically fail to print while static colors succeed, exporting the sheet to PDF first usually resolves the rendering bug.
How do I ensure an Excel sheet prints exactly as it looks on the screen?
To guarantee a 1-to-1 print, confirm your system printer properties are set to color output, uncheck both 'Black and white' and 'Draft quality' in Excel's Page Setup, and thoroughly check your Print Preview (Ctrl + P) before initiating the print job.
