Prevent Charts from Printing in Excel

This is how you prevent a chart from appearing when you print from Excel.

This is a great feature when you want to hide a chart to better showcase data or for any other reason.

Here is our sample spreadsheet (download it from the side-menu to follow along):

Steps to Prevent a Chart from Printing in Excel

1. Right-click the side of the chart and click Format Chart Area:
2. Go to the Properties section and un-check the option that says Print object
3. View the worksheet in Print Preview mode to make sure the chart will not be printed.

If you want to get the chart back, just follow the above steps but check the box next to Print object instead of un-checking it.

You can always test if the chart will be printed or not by going into the print preview mode.

Here is what our document would look like when printed if the chart was included:

You can format the resulting page however you want, but, now you know how to prevent a chart from appearing in the printed output from Excel.

Note: this feature also works with any shape or image in Excel.