XL2000: Line Object Is Missing in Print Preview or When Printed

If you create a line, arrow, or connector line with the Drawing toolbar, and then move it to a cell boundary by using the Snap To Grid feature or by pressing the ALT key, the line may not appear when you print it or when you view it in Print Preview.

This behavior can occur when the following conditions are true:

• You move a line, arrow, or connector to the edge of a cell by pressing ALT or by using Snap To Grid (on the Drawing toolbar, click Draw, point to Snap, and then click To Grid).
  
  -and-
• You horizontally align the line, arrow, or connector.
  
  NOTE: This behavior also occurs if you align the object vertically on a vertical page break.
  
  -and-
• There are no other objects on the worksheet.

This behavior can occur whether the line is solid or dashed and regardless of the thickness that you specify for the line or the presence of gridlines.

Work around this issue by using any of the following methods.

Method 1

Add another line to the bottom of the worksheet.

NOTE: When you do this, the added line may appear when you print the worksheet or when you view the worksheet in Print Preview. To prevent this from happening, make the new line the lowest one on the worksheet and use the Snap To Grid feature. You can also place the line outside of the page break and choose not to print the page with the extra line in it.

Method 2

Add data any place below the missing line.

NOTE: When you do this, the data appears when you print the worksheet or when you view the worksheet in Print Preview. To prevent this from happening, place the data outside of the page break and choose not to print the page with the data on it.

Method 3

Insert another kind of graphic object on the same worksheet and set the object properties so that it is not printed. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Drawing if the Drawing toolbar is not already selected.
2. Click the Rectangle tool on the Drawing toolbar.
3. Position the insertion point on the worksheet below the line object that you want to print, and then drag the pointer to insert a rectangle on the worksheet.
   
   NOTE: The size of the rectangle does not matter.
4. With the rectangle selected, click AutoShape on the Format menu.
5. Click the Colors and Lines tab.
6. Under Fill, in the Color box, click No Fill; under Line, in the Color box, click No Line; and then click OK.

Method 4

1. Select all the cells that you want to print.
   
   NOTE: You must select at least one cell that is below the missing line.
2. On the File menu, click Print.
3. Under Print what, click Selection.
4. Click Preview.
   
   Note that the missing line is now visible.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For more information about aligning objects with cells, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type align and arrange drawing objects in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.