You can add a background to the sheet, which is visible on screen, but
won't print:
1. In a graphics program, e.g. MS Paint, create and save a
a small image filled with the colour of your choice.
2. In Excel, choose Format>Sheet>Background
3. Select your image, click Open
4. To change the font colour, choose Format>Style
5. Select Normal, click Modify
6. On the Font tab, choose the white colour, click OK, OK
7. Choose File>Page Setup
8. On the Sheet tab, add a check mark to Black and White
9. Click OK
You can create a new default template, with your preferred settings:
1. Open a new workbook.
2. Select all the sheets, and choose File>Page Setup.
3. On the Page tab, select A4 for Paper size, click OK
4. Ungroup the sheets
5. Choose Save As
6. From the Save As Type dropdown, choose Template (*.xlt)
7. Name the File "Book.xlt"
8. Save it in the XLStart folder
(usually in Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office)
When you click the New button on the toolbar, the new workbook will be
based on this template.
If you want new sheets to be inserted with the same paper size, you can
create a sheet template.
Follow the steps for creating a workbook template, but:
-- create a workbook with only one sheet
-- save as Sheet.xlt