Printing Problems

How to Fix Excel Chart Printing with a Black Plot Area

Maira Mehtab Oct 13, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user needs to resolve an issue where an Excel chart's plot area prints entirely black instead of its expected colors.

How to Fix an Excel Chart Printing with a Black Plot Area

Product: Microsoft Excel
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Printing an Excel workbook containing charts.
Observed behavior: The chart's plot area appears black on the printed page, obscuring the data and expected background formatting.

Before you start

Before making changes, check the Print Preview in Excel to see if the black area is visible there, and try printing a standard text document to ensure your printer's ink cartridges and base software are functioning correctly.

Solution 1Recommended

Recreate the Excel Chart

Rebuilding the chart from scratch can resolve issues caused by underlying chart corruption or glitchy formatting.

Over time, chart objects in Excel can become corrupted, especially if the file has been saved in multiple older formats or frequently modified. Creating a fresh chart removes these hidden formatting errors.

Select original data

Highlight the original data range in your spreadsheet that was used to generate the problematic chart.

Insert a new chart

Navigate to the 'Insert' tab on the top ribbon and choose your desired chart type from the Charts group.

Test print

Delete the old corrupted chart, place the new one in your worksheet, and attempt to print the document again.

Quick Formatting Tip: Instead of leaving the chart background as 'Automatic' or 'No Fill', try manually setting the plot area fill color to solid white before printing.

Solution 2

Update Your Printer Drivers

Outdated or corrupted printer drivers can misinterpret chart graphics, resulting in black backgrounds.

Solution 3

Transfer Data to a New Workbook

If the entire workbook is corrupted, moving the data to a fresh file can eliminate document-specific printing errors.

Print Charts Flawlessly with WPS Office

Use WPS Spreadsheet to Print Your Excel Charts

If Microsoft Excel continues to print charts with a black background, WPS Spreadsheet offers a highly compatible, reliable alternative for opening, viewing, and printing your Excel documents without formatting glitches.

1. Download WPS Office: Install WPS Office for free from the official website and launch WPS Spreadsheet.
2. Open your file: Open your problematic Excel workbook directly in WPS Spreadsheet.
3. Print the chart: Click the 'Print' icon or press Ctrl+P to print your charts with perfectly rendered background colors.

Highly compatible with Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) formatsAccurate rendering and printing of complex charts and graphs without black background glitchesLightweight application that runs smoothly on all devicesFree to download and use for your daily spreadsheet tasks

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Excel chart background turn black only when printing?

This usually happens due to a communication error between Excel and your printer driver, where transparent or automatic background fills are misinterpreted as black. Outdated drivers or corrupted chart elements are the most common culprits.

Will changing the chart's background color fix the black printing issue?

Sometimes. You can try manually setting the chart area and plot area fill color to a solid white instead of 'Automatic' or 'No Fill'. To do this, right-click the chart, select 'Format Chart Area', and adjust the fill options.

How can I tell if my Excel workbook is corrupted?

If the black plot area issue only occurs in one specific workbook while other Excel files print charts normally, the original workbook or the specific chart object is likely corrupted. Transferring your data to a new file is the best way to verify and fix this.

Document & File Issues