Java: Print Excel XLS and XLSX Documents

Sometimes, you may find that a well-formatted and organized sheet looks messy on a printed page. This is because Excel worksheets are designed for comfortable viewing and editing on screen, not to fit on a sheet of paper. To get perfect hard copies of your Excel documents, you'll need to configure the print settings. In this article, you will learn how to set Excel print options and how to send Excel documents to a specified printer in Java using Spire.XLS for Java.

Set Excel Print Options via Page Setup in Java
Specify Printer Settings when Printing Excel Documents in Java

Install Spire.XLS for Java

First of all, you're required to add the Spire.Xls.jar file as a dependency in your Java program. The JAR file can be downloaded from this link. If you use Maven, you can easily import the JAR file in your application by adding the following code to your project's pom.xml file.

Package Manager

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>com.e-iceblue</id>
        <name>e-iceblue</name>
        <url>https://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>e-iceblue</groupId>
        <artifactId>spire.xls</artifactId>
        <version>13.1.3</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Set Excel Print Options via Page Setup in Java

Excel Page Setup provides options to control how a worksheet will be printed, such as whether to print comments, whether to print gridlines and whether to fit worksheet on one page.

Spire.XLS offers the PageSetup object to deal with all these things. The following are the steps to set Excel print options through PageSetup using Spire.XLS for Java.

Create a Workbook object.
Load an Excel file using Workbook.loadFromFile() method.
Get a specific worksheet using Workbook.getWorksheets().get() method.
Get PageSetup object using Worksheet.getPageSetup() method.
Set page margins, print area, pint title row, print quality, etc. using the methods under PageSetup object.
Print the workbook by using PrinterJob class.

Java

import com.spire.xls.*;

import java.awt.print.PageFormat;
import java.awt.print.Paper;
import java.awt.print.PrinterException;
import java.awt.print.PrinterJob;

public class SetPrintOptions {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        //Create a workbook
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();

        //Load an Excel document
        workbook.loadFromFile("C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\sample.xlsx");

        //Get the first worksheet
        Worksheet worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

        //Get the PageSetup object of the first worksheet
        PageSetup pageSetup = worksheet.getPageSetup();

        //Set page margins
        pageSetup.setTopMargin(0.3);
        pageSetup.setBottomMargin(0.3);
        pageSetup.setLeftMargin(0.3);
        pageSetup.setRightMargin(0.3);

        //Specify print area
        pageSetup.setPrintArea("A1:D10");

        //Specify title row
        pageSetup.setPrintTitleRows("$1:$2");

        //Allow to print with row/column headings
        pageSetup.isPrintHeadings(true);

        //Allow to print with gridlines
        pageSetup.isPrintGridlines(true);

        //Allow to print comments as displayed on worksheet
        pageSetup.setPrintComments(PrintCommentType.InPlace);

        //Set printing quality (dpi)
        pageSetup.setPrintQuality(300);

        //Allow to print worksheet in black & white mode
        pageSetup.setBlackAndWhite(true);

        //Set the printing order
        pageSetup.setOrder(OrderType.OverThenDown);

        //Fit worksheet on one page
        pageSetup.isFitToPage(true);

        //Create a PrinterJob object
        PrinterJob printerJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
        PageFormat pageFormat = printerJob.defaultPage();
        Paper paper = pageFormat.getPaper();

        //Set the imageable area of this paper
        paper.setImageableArea(0, 0, pageFormat.getWidth(), pageFormat.getHeight());

        //Set the number of copies
        printerJob.setCopies(1);
        pageFormat.setPaper(paper);

        //Call painter to render the workbook in the specified format
        printerJob.setPrintable(workbook, pageFormat);

        //Execute print
        try {
            printerJob.print();
        } catch (PrinterException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Java: Print Excel XLS and XLSX Documents

Specify Printer Settings when Printing Excel Documents in Java

In addition to print options, it is important to know how to specify a network connected printer and how to specify other printer settings. The following steps demonstrate how to printer Excel documents with the specified printer settings by using Spire.XLS for Java and PrinterJob class.

Create a Workbook object.
Load an Excel file using Workbook.loadFromFile() method.
Create a PrinterJob object using PrinterJob.getPrinterJob() method.
Specify printer name using PrinterJob.setPrintService() method.
Sets the number of copies to be printed using PrinterJob .setCopies() method.
Calls painter to render the workbook using PrinterJob .setPrintable() method.
Print the workbook using PrinterJob.print() method.

Java

import com.spire.xls.Workbook;

import javax.print.PrintService;
import java.awt.print.PageFormat;
import java.awt.print.Paper;
import java.awt.print.PrinterException;
import java.awt.print.PrinterJob;

public class SpecifyPrinterSettings {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws PrinterException {

        //Create a Workbook object
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
        
        //Load an Excel document
        workbook.loadFromFile("C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\Sample.xlsx");

        //Create a PrinterJob object
        PrinterJob printerJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();

        //Specify printer name
        PrintService myPrintService = findPrintService("\\\\192.168.1.104\\HP LaserJet P1007");
        printerJob.setPrintService(myPrintService);

        //Create a PageFormat object and set it to the default size and orientation
        PageFormat pageFormat  = printerJob.defaultPage();

        //Return a copy of the Paper object associated with this PageFormat.
        Paper paper = pageFormat .getPaper();

        //Set the imageable area of this Paper
        paper.setImageableArea(0,0,pageFormat .getWidth(),pageFormat .getHeight());

        //Set the Paper object for this PageFormat
        pageFormat .setPaper(paper);

        //Set the number of copies
        printerJob .setCopies(1);

        //Call painter to render the workbook in the specified format
        printerJob .setPrintable(workbook,pageFormat);

        //Execute print
        try {
            printerJob.print();
        } catch (PrinterException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    //Get print service by printer name
    private static PrintService findPrintService(String printerName) {

        PrintService[] printServices = PrinterJob.lookupPrintServices();
        for (PrintService printService : printServices) {
            if (printService.getName().equals(printerName)) {
                return printService;
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
}

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