Portable Document Format or PDF is a versatile file format that is easy to present or exchange documents. You may need to convert your Excel worksheet to present or exchange your dataset more easily. Or you may convert it so that the user can only read and cannot change the table values in the first place. Usually, conversions often cut out the extra rows or columns of a dataset to fit the page or according to the layout of the spreadsheet. But you may sometimes need to keep it on one page to make it more presentable. In this article, I am going to show you how to convert Excel spreadsheets to PDF with all columns.
Different Criteria to Convert Excel to PDF with All Columns
There are several methods to convert Excel to PDF in the first place. The most common being saving the file as a PDF, printing, or exporting it. But for most cases, if the dataset is too big to fit on one page it cuts off the dataset and shifts it to the next one. To convert with all columns, there are a few methods. For demonstrating each one, I am using the same dataset below that doesn’t fit on one page while converting or printing.
If you convert this spreadsheet to PDF it becomes something like this.
The last column is cut off and shifted to the next page.
To convert Excel to PDF with all columns, I have included several methods below. Some have their pros and cons. So go through each one to find the suitable one for you, or you can find the one you want from the table above. For all the methods you can swap the print method with saving as an option and vice versa.
1. Convert Excel to PDF with All Columns by Changing Orientation
For datasets like the one mentioned above the number of rows isn’t that much, but the column number takes up more space. In other words, the width of the dataset is much larger than its height. When you convert Excels with datasets like these to PDF, you can easily do so with all columns by changing the orientation of the page. Then you can save it as PDF or print it to PDF- whatever method you prefer.
Steps:
- First, in the spreadsheet, go to the Page Layout tab from the ribbon.
- In the Page Setup group, click on Orientation.
- Then from the drop-down menu, select Landscape.
- Then select File from the ribbon and select Save As.
- Now, in the Save As window, select PDF in the Save as type. After that, click on Save.
This will convert the Excel file to PDF with all columns. Because of the page orientation, all columns will fit on one page.
Read More: How to Convert Excel to PDF without Converter
2. Changing Scaling to Convert Excel to PDF with All Columns
You can convert Excel to PDF with all columns by changing the scaling of the spreadsheet either from the ribbon or while printing. Follow these steps to learn how.
Steps:
- First, go to the Page Layout tab from your ribbon.
- Then, under the Scale to Fit group, click on the downward-facing arrow beside Width.
- In the drop-down menu, select 1 page from the options. This will fit the whole width of one page.
- After that go to the File tab and select Save As.
- Finally, in the Save As window, select the file type as PDF and click on Save.
This will also convert Excel to PDF with all columns because of the change in scaling in the spreadsheet.
Read More: How to Convert Excel to PDF without Losing Formatting
3. Using ‘Fit All Columns on One Page’ Option
You can convert Excel to PDF with all columns by changing the scaling to fit on one page in the print preview window and then proceed to export it as a PDF. Follow the steps for a detailed guide.
Steps:
- First, select the spreadsheet you want to print.
- Then go to the print preview window by pressing Ctrl+P on your keyboard.
- In the interface, under Settings, select the scaling option. By default, No Scaling would be selected.
- After clicking, other options will appear. With keeping columns in mind, select Fit All Column on One Page.
- After that, select Print on the same preview window.
- As a result, a new window will pop up called Save Print Output As. Select the file type as PDF in it. Finally, click on Save.
Consequently, it will convert the Excel to PDF with all columns.
Read More:Â Export Excel to PDF with Hyperlinks
4. Adjusting Paper Size to ‘A3’
If you can print your large dataset on a larger-sized paper, cutting off columns or rows won’t be an issue as the paper can fit the whole dataset pretty easily. For this reason, if you save the printing output as PDF after you resize it for a larger paper, it can convert Excel to PDF with all columns.
For a more detailed guide follow these steps.
Steps:
- First, select the spreadsheet you want to convert.
- Then go to the print preview window by pressing ‘Ctrl+P’ on your keyboard.
- In the preview window, under Settings, select the page size option as shown in the figure below.
- After clicking on it, the size options will open up. Select a larger size like A3 to fit all the columns.
- After selecting the size, go on to print by selecting Print in the preview window.
- In the Save Print Output As window, select the file type as PDF.
- Finally, click on Save. This will convert Excel to PDF with all columns.
Read More: How to Save Excel as PDF without Cutting Off
5. Change Margin to Convert Excel to PDF with All Columns
You can change the paper margin of the to-be printed paper convert it to PDF and keep all the columns. This method just fits all the columns by minimizing the margins to give space for the dataset. Although this method might come in handy in some cases, its use is very limited to the size of the dataset. For a very large dataset, this method might not be helpful at all. But for datasets like that in the question, this method is very quick and simple.
Follow these steps to convert Excel to PDF with all columns by changing the paper margin.
Steps:
- First, in the spreadsheet, go to the Page Layout
- In this tab, under the Page Setup group, click on Margins.
- In the drop-down list, select Narrow. (You can also select a custom size, but the default narrow size is enough for a dataset like the one in question)
- Once you are done, go to the File tab and select Save As.
- In the Save As window, select the file type as PDF. Finally, click on Save.
This will convert Excel to PDF with all columns but with very little margin size.
Read More: How to Save Multiple Excel Sheets as One PDF
Download Practice Workbook
If you want to try out the methods with a bit longer dataset, you can find one in the file below. Try with it as you go through the steps.
This is the PDF version of the dataset.
Conclusion
These are all the methods you can use to convert Excel to PDF with all columns. Hope you found this guide helpful and informative. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to let us know below.
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