KB172320 - Cannot Use Page Setup Property If No Printers Installed

Article ID: 172320

Article Last Modified on 8/17/2005

Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q172320

For a Microsoft Excel 2002 version of this article, see 291298.
For a Microsoft Excel 2000 version of this article, see 213516.
For a Microsoft Excel 98 version of this article, see 182243.

SYMPTOMS

In the versions of Microsoft Excel listed above, if you run a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro that attempts to set or get the page setup properties for any sheet in a workbook, you may receive either of the following error messages

Run-time error '1004':
Unable to set the <x> property of the PageSetup class

-OR-

Run-time error '1004':
Unable to get the <x> property of the PageSetup class

where <x> is any of the following words:

   BlackAndWhite        Order
   BottomMargin         Orientation
   CenterFooter         PaperSize
   CenterHeader         PrintArea
   CenterHorizontally   PrintComments
   CenterVertically     PrintGridlines
   ChartSize            PrintHeadings
   Draft                PrintNotes
   FirstPageNumber      PrintTitleColumns
   FitToPagesTall       PrintTitleRows
   FitToPagesWide       RightFooter
   FooterMargin         RightHeader
   HeaderMargin         RightMargin
   LeftFooter           TopMargin
   LeftHeader           Zoom
   LeftMargin

CAUSE

This problem occurs when there are no printer drivers installed on your computer. Microsoft Excel cannot set or get page setup properties if no printer drivers are installed.

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel.

RESOLUTION

To prevent this problem from occurring, install a printer driver on your computer. Use the appropriate method for your situation:

In Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 3.x, and Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0, use the Printers option in Control Panel to add and remove printer drivers.
In Microsoft Windows NT version 3.x, use the Print Manager to add and remove printer drivers.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel, page setup properties are only useful when you print or print preview one or more sheets in a workbook. Because of this, you cannot change or return most page setup properties unless at least one printer driver is installed as the default printer.

If you click Page Setup on the File menu when no printer drivers are installed, you receive the following error message:

There are no printers installed. Use the Printers option in Control Panel to install a printer.

Just as you cannot access the Page Setup dialog box in this case, you cannot access the properties in the dialog box programmatically.

Additional query words: XL97 XL7 XL5 3.1 3.11 3.5 3.51 5.00c 7.00a XL

Keywords: kbprb kbdtacode KB172320