RagDyer said:
Because print preview is exactly that ... a preview of what the file will
look like when it prints.
What the file will look like really depends on the printer.
Different printers will make for different appearences, so what appearence
will XL display for you ?
....
Back in the days when Excel was originally programmed most printers were
tractor feed dot matrix or daisy wheel plain text, and choice of printer
materially affected how printout appeared. In the intervening 18 years the
typical printer has become either an ink jet or a laser. Most printers now
produce almost identical output to 300 dpi. Differences only become
pronounced at finer resolutions.
I'd put money on the old stand-by: pure inertia. Excel depended on the
printer driver to render print previews in the old days, and Microsoft
haven't bothered to expend resources on a thorough rewrite. Credit where
due: no company currently in existence or likely that ever existed in the
past is as adept at figuring out how little it needs to invest to produce a
steadily increasing revenue stream as Microsoft.
