Microsoft KB Archive/211801

= XL2000: Incorrect Printer May Be Used When Printing from Macro =

Article ID: 211801

Article Last Modified on 11/23/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q211801





SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel 2000, if you run a Visual Basic for Applications macro that prints a worksheet or a chart, the pages may be printed by the default printer instead of by the printer that you specified in the macro.



CAUSE
This behavior may occur if the following conditions are true:   The macro contains a line of code similar to the following: ActiveSheet.PrintOut ActivePrinter:="My LaserPrinter" -and-

 The printer name specified in the ActivePrinter argument is not valid.

For a printer name to be valid, it must be spelled exactly the same as one of the printers in the Printers dialog box.



WORKAROUND
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

To work around this behavior, verify that the printer name specified in the ActivePrinter argument is spelled exactly the same as the printer name in the Printers dialog box.

For example, if the printer name in the Printers dialog box is "My Laser Printer," with spaces between each word, revise the line of code in the "Cause" section to the following: ActiveSheet.PrintOut ActivePrinter:="My Laser Printer"



MORE INFORMATION
To print with a printer other than the default printer, use either of the following methods:   Use Application.ActivePrinter to change the default printer; then, print and switch back to the original default printer. For example: xOriginalPrinter = Application.ActivePrinter Application.ActivePrinter = "My LaserPrinter" ActiveSheet.PrintOut Application.ActivePrinter = xOriginalPrinter -or-

  Use the ActivePrinter argument to specify a different printer in the PrintOut command; for example: ActiveSheet.PrintOut ActivePrinter:="My LaserPrinter" </li></ul>

If you use the first method and specify an invalid printer name, you receive the following error message:

Run-time error '1004': Application-defined or object-defined error

If you use the second method and specify an invalid printer name, you do not receive an error message. Instead, the pages are printed by the default printer. If the default printer is very busy or is the wrong type of printer (for example, it is not a color printer but you want to print in color), you may notice an issue of some sort.

Additional query words: XL2000

Keywords: kbprb kbprint KB211801

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