How to use Worksheets.PrintOut in the xlwings API way

The PrintOut method in the Worksheets collection, accessible via the xlwings API, provides a powerful way to print worksheets directly from Python. This functionality is essential for automating report generation and document distribution workflows, allowing you to control various aspects of the printing process without manual intervention in Excel.

Functionality
The PrintOut method sends one or more worksheets to a printer. You can specify a range of pages, the number of copies, whether to print to a file, and other standard print settings. It is particularly useful for batch printing multiple sheets or generating physical/digital copies of reports as part of an automated script.

Syntax in xlwings
The method is called on a Sheet object (representing a single worksheet) or can be applied to multiple sheets via the sheets collection. The xlwings syntax mirrors the VBA object model closely.

sheet.api.PrintOut(From, To, Copies, Preview, ActivePrinter, PrintToFile, Collate, PrToFileName, IgnorePrintAreas)

Parameters and Their Meanings

Parameter	Data Type	Description	How to Access/Example Value
From	Integer	The page number at which to start printing. If omitted, printing starts from the beginning.	Set to a number, e.g., 1.
To	Integer	The page number at which to stop printing. If omitted, printing goes to the last page.	Set to a number, e.g., 3.
Copies	Integer	The number of copies to print. Default is 1.	Set to a number, e.g., 2.
Preview	Boolean	True to have Excel invoke print preview before printing. False (default) to print immediately.	Use True or False.
ActivePrinter	String	Sets the name of the active printer.	Provide a printer name string. Often left as None to use default.
PrintToFile	Boolean	True to print to a file. If True, you must specify PrToFileName.	Use True or False.
Collate	Boolean	True (default) to collate multiple copies.	Use True or False.
PrToFileName	String	If PrintToFile is True, this is the name of the file to print to.	Provide a full file path string.
IgnorePrintAreas	Boolean	True to ignore any print areas set in the worksheet and print the entire sheet.	Use True or False.

Most parameters are optional. In xlwings, you pass them as keyword arguments, and you can omit any you don’t need, using Excel’s defaults.

Code Examples

1. Basic Print: Print the active sheet immediately to the default printer.

import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book('report.xlsx')
wb.sheets['Sheet1'].api.PrintOut()

2. Print Multiple Copies with Collation: Print two collated copies of a specific page range from “DataSheet”.

sheet = wb.sheets['DataSheet']
sheet.api.PrintOut(From=1, To=1, Copies=2, Collate=True)

3. Print to a PDF File: Print the entire “Summary” worksheet to a PDF file, ignoring any set print area.

output_path = r'C:\Reports\summary.pdf'
wb.sheets['Summary'].api.PrintOut(PrintToFile=True, PrToFileName=output_path, IgnorePrintAreas=True)

4. Print Preview: Open the print preview for the first three sheets without actually printing.

for sheet in wb.sheets[:3]: # Loop through first three sheets
sheet.api.PrintOut(Preview=True, Copies=1)