# Weird Excel print problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476 "2011-01-21T18:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/1 "2011-01-21T18:10:07Z")
I’ve got a weird little glitch in an Excel spreadsheet that occurs when I try to print it, and it’s driving me crazy. The spreadsheet has 13 tabs, labeled “Pg 1”, “Pg 2”…etc. Pg 3 has the usual cells with text, and charts and stuff, and a little text box in the lower left, containing some footnote information. When I print, Pg 4 and Pg 5 have that text from the text box superimposed smack in the middle, on top (or underneath) the charts and stuff, making it hard to read. As far as I can tell, the verbiage in that text box appears nowhere else in the workbook. And what’s weird – if I delete that text box, I still get the verbiage superimposed when I print. It only appears during printing (or Print preview) – pg 4 and pg 5 display perfectly fine on screen. I’ve looked for Print Areas, and Print Titles, and hidden cells and columns, and have found nothing. so I’ve got a ghost embedded in my workbook somewhere. How do I track it down and exorcise it? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/2 "2011-01-21T18:33:57Z")
Test one: change the wording in the text box on page 3, and then see if the new text shows up when you print pages 4-5. This will confirm whether the problem is in the text box you’re seeing (i.e., that it is somehow inexplicably being replicated elsewhere) or if in fact there are copies of it hidden somewhere on pages 4-5. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/3 "2011-01-21T18:36:35Z")
I thought of that 🙂 and the change does not show up on pages 4-5. So there is another copy of this text box buried somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/4 "2011-01-21T18:39:34Z")
That’s what it sounds like to me. What version of Excel is this? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/5 "2011-01-21T18:41:01Z")
Excel 2007. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/6 "2011-01-21T18:46:59Z")
Give this a try: > [@](#): > > Press F5 on sheets 4-5, then click “special” and then select “objects” and click OK. > All text boxes should be selected and even those that were hidden will have > it’s borders displayed with some dot pattern and then you can grab the round > handles and make them larger. Once you have decided which ones are obsolete > you can delete them. Stolen and modified from [here](http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/32977123/hidden-text-box-in-excel.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/7 "2011-01-21T18:59:36Z")
Found it! That F5 thing is pretty cool – never used that before. But that wasn’t it. Pg 4 and Pg 5 have charts that are picture objects, linked to data on hidden worksheets. Those hidden worksheets had the ghostly text box. Apparently the embedded chart was referencing an area a bit too broad on the hidden worksheet. I just deleted the text box from the hidden worksheet, and poof! gone. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/8 "2011-01-21T19:10:28Z")
Glad that you figured it out! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-excel-print-problem/568476/9 "2011-01-21T20:34:04Z")
Me too. Deadline looming. 🙂 What’s interesting is that I used the Find feature to search for the text string, and it couldn’t find it – apparently it can’t peek inside text boxes. If it had found all instances of that string, I would’ve solved this pretty easily.