Excel file printout missing some horizontal grid lines

[pal4el · Accepted solution]

We have had the problem of grid lines printing inconsistently, being a mixture of single spacing and double spacing horizontally, most of them double spacing. After trying various Setting changes, we changed Print Quality from Normal to Best and that produced what we wanted i.e. all single spacing. Weird but it works!

[rnbr]

I had this problem with a 4630 HP printer. This is definitely a HP software problem. They have fixed it. You have to get a new version of their software downloaded to your computer by a HP rep. Call them. The issue is that their employees are absolutely clueless about this problem. HP has not informed them. I spent 6 hours an this problem, including 1 1/2 hours on the phone with HP. The Rep. that helped me was only hoping that their latest software would solve the porblem. He had no prior knowledge of this problem, nor does any seller of HP printers.

[bigalf]

Yes, previously HP said to "try" various drivers for other printers, but none fixed the problem.  I am not about to call HP tech support again, especially after having to deal with three different techs in order to fix the wireless on my new HP Envy Laptop...a six week ordeal.  I now print my Excel files on my Brother laser printer.  If I need Excel color prints (rarely) then I print on the Envy at highest resolution (and much, much slower).

[gara56]

No in other words, no drafts. If you have a 20 page paper and want to print a draft--you're out of luck. I would hardly call that a solution.

[Boston_Pete]

I had the same problem with my new HP Envy 4500 printer running the latest driver.  When printing Excel spreadsheets, many of the gridlines were missing, typically every other one.   I phoned HP Tech Support, and they solved the problem by creating a new printer entry with the driver for the HP Deskjet 6940.  They claim this driver will work fine overall with the Envy 4500.  Even if they're wrong, I'm hoping I can get by using one or the other software (4500 or 6940), depending on what I need to do.  I suggested they fix the problem in the 4500 driver for the future, which would make things easier for everyone.

[bigalf]

The HP Deskjet 6940 printer model does not have a scanner like the HP Envy 4500.  Have you checked to see if you can still scan with the alternate driver?

[Boston_Pete]

Thanks for that information.  Actually, my plan is to use the Envy 4500 as my default printer and to select the 6940 entry only when I need to print Excel gridlines.  (Both selections go to the same physical printer, the 4500.)  That should work fine for me, unless some new problem arises.

[GoobieDebi]

I have the same problem with HP 4500 printing inconsistent horizontal lines on excel forms. It DOES work when I print in BEST mode, but I shouldn't have to worry about changing my settings for each print job. This is frustrating and hope that HP provides a permanent solution.

[Boston_Pete]

The workaround I have settled on (suggested by my wife) is to first "print" the spreadsheet to a pdf file and then print the pdf file from Adobe.  An annoying extra step, but it works.

[Boston_Pete]

I forgot to mention that my original workaround of using the HP Deskjet 6940 print driver (see earlier post) ultimately failed.  At some point the driver got stuck and I couldn't clear it, because I didn't have an actual 6940 to "reboot"!