Exporting large Excel files to PDFs for printing

This guide is applicable if you have tried the method in https://storyhomes.freshdesk.com/a/solutions/articles/42000110972 and it has made little/no difference in printing time on your Excel file.

This will walk you through the process of exporting an Excel file into a PDF, which will dramatically cut down on printing time. The first example includes a feature that is only present if you are using Adobe Acrobat

Example #1 - Using the 'Save as Adobe PDF' function

Underneath the normal Save & Save As functions in Excel, there should be an option underneath if you have Adobe Acrobat installed on your laptop

This feature will allow you to select which exact worksheets within the Excel file that you'd like to export. In the above example I've chosen 3 worksheets and left out the rest. Once happy, select Convert to PDF and the Adobe tool will generate this for you in your desired location (see paragraph beginning with 'At this point' to continue past Example #2)

Example #2 - Using the 'Save As' function

If the above option is not present it may indicate that you don't have Adobe Acrobat installed. But don't worry, you'll still be able to export to PDF using the regular Save As function

Firstly, select the worksheet you'd like to export by clicking one one, holding the Ctrl key on your keyboard & then clicking on the rest which you'd like to export. In the below example I have selected worksheet #1, #2 & #5. You can confirm which sheets are selected as they are highlighted with a small green border on the bottom side of each sheet

If we click on File --> Save As & then select Browse the file explorer will open at the location where the Excel file is stored. Simply click the drop down menu at the bottom and select PDF

NOTE - If you have NOT selected multiple worksheets this will only export the one you are currently viewing

Once happy, click save & then this will effectively get you to the same stage as example #1

At this point you'll be able to open the PDF in your preferred PDF viewer (Acrobat, Foxit, Web Browser) and then use their respective print functions to print the worksheet(s) rather than via Excel. The below example is me printing from Acrobat

Depending on the size of the worksheets you're trying to print this may still take several minutes but it is a lot more preferred compared to a few hours if you were to print via Excel