The PrintPreview method of the Range object in Excel is a powerful feature that allows users to see exactly how a selected range will appear when printed, without actually sending the document to a printer. This is an essential tool for formatting checks, layout adjustments, and ensuring that reports or data sets are perfectly arranged on the page before final output. In xlwings, which provides a clean and Pythonic way to automate Excel, this functionality is accessed through the api property, which exposes the underlying Excel object model. Using PrintPreview can save time and resources by preventing unnecessary print jobs and paper waste.
The syntax for calling PrintPreview via xlwings follows the pattern of the Excel VBA object model. Since PrintPreview is a method that does not take any parameters, its usage is straightforward. The general form is:
range_object.api.PrintPreview()Here, range_object refers to an xlwings Range object, which represents a cell or a range of cells in an Excel worksheet. The .api property provides access to the native Excel COM object, allowing you to call its methods directly. The PrintPreview method, when invoked, immediately opens the print preview window for the specified range, using the current printer settings and page layout options defined in the workbook. It’s important to note that this method does not return a value; its action is purely to display the preview interface.
Consider a scenario where you have an Excel workbook with a sales report in a sheet named “Q1_Summary”, and you want to preview the print output for the data in cells A1 through G20. The following xlwings code example demonstrates how to achieve this:
import xlwings as xw
# Connect to the active Excel application or start a new one
app = xw.App(visible=True) # Set visible=True to see Excel
# Open the workbook (adjust the path to your file)
wb = app.books.open('sales_report.xlsx')
# Access the specific worksheet
sheet = wb.sheets['Q1_Summary']
# Define the range you want to preview
target_range = sheet.range('A1:G20')
# Call the PrintPreview method via the .api property
target_range.api.PrintPreview()
# The print preview window will open. The script will wait until it is closed.
# After closing the preview, you can continue with other operations or close.
wb.close()
app.quit()In this example, the PrintPreview window will display exactly how the range A1:G20 from the “Q1_Summary” sheet will look on a printed page. Users can then inspect margins, page breaks, headers, and footers. To automate further, you might integrate this into a larger script that formats the range based on certain conditions before previewing. For instance, you could adjust column widths or apply a print area before calling PrintPreview:
# Set the print area to the target range
sheet.page_setup.print_area = target_range.address
# Optionally, set to landscape orientation for a wider range
sheet.page_setup.orientation = 'landscape'
# Now preview
target_range.api.PrintPreview()
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