LibreOffice and printing problem.

[#1]

I have recreated some spreadsheet layouts in the form originally used with Excel 97 quite successfully, as far as the displayed data is concerned, but failed to print them. All the appropriate panels were completed but nothing went to the printer. I first thought that the .ods. file extension might have been indigestible to the printer and saved the files using the .xls extension which appeared to work with one of them but not the other. Apart from minor differences in the actual data there is, as far as I can judge, no difference between the files. Added to this the print of the the one file does not have the grid lines with the data. I have tried two different printers which give exactly the same result. I have not found any means to include/exclude grid lines amongst the toolbars. The Print Preview displays show that the difference is actually there.
The help facilities with LO are a bit sparse and was I not able to get any further. Does anyone out there found a similar problem and . hopefully, found a  cure?

[#2]

Format Page - I did my usual thing and Googled for libreoffice calc show grid and the first result was https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/View

Quote

Grid lines Specifies when grid lines will be displayed. Default is to display grid lines only on cells that do not have a background color. You can choose to also display grid lines on cells with background color, or to hide them. For printing, choose Format - Page - Sheet and mark the Grid check box.

[#3]

I have been recreating some spreadsheet work that I have to allow me to carry on with LO and Calc and not force me to upgrade my Excel 97. Everything went well with the construction of the tables and data entry, arithmetic and all with two sets of data. The displays seemed identical but all was not well when I tried to print thems. Going to the Print Preview panel showed no data from either and, of course, the printer was silent. After a lot of experimentation without any result, I wondered if the .ods file extension was in some way indigestible to the printer (which coped with anything I threw at it from the word processor) so I copied the files so that they had .xls extensions. The first one duly displayed in the Preview and the printer duly printed it! It did fail to print the grid lines which were not displayed in the Preview either. The second one behaved exactly the same as it did with the .ods extension!! I have explored the LO Help files but they are a bit sparse and did not give any useful clues. Does anyone out there have experience of this problem? I have tried two printers (HP845  and 6100) and they behave exactly the same, so it is within the software I guess. I am using my laptop HP Pavillion dv6 and the latest LO but with M$7.

[#4]

duplicate threads merged

[#5]

Have you tried printing (or exporting) to a PDF file?
If necessary, the PDF file should be printable. 

[#6]

@ Oldjim,
Thanks. The grid lines do indeed appear and print with the sheet that does work (after a fashion) as you advised. So far both versions of my posts are still visible, not that anyone will be mislead by that. The absence of a printable sheet two still remains. But see my post below.
@Jeremy.
Thanks to you as well, I will try that but it seems highly peculiar that the normal printing process is not available as described. I must try some Googling fo;lowing OJ's example. I might add that getting action with anything .plus.net this afternoon is like wading through treacle. Line figures are only slightly down on normal. Don't know if the maintenance on the 5th has had anything to do with things.

[#7]

Two suggestions ...
1) When I upgraded about a year ago I had the same problem on a Linux system. I found that changing the printer language type from 'Postscript' to 'PDF' fixed this. Go to: 'Printer Settings' menu option to open the 'Printer Setup' window, then choose the 'Properties' button to open the 'Properties of' window, then choose the 'Device' tab. The printer language setting should now be visible.
I don't know why or how this matters or makes a difference, but it worked for me. I have a feeling that PDF in this case is nothing to do with Acrobat and may mean something like 'Printer Definition File'.
2) Some older versions would not print if you did not set an explicit print range on the spread-sheet. I think this is no longer a problem, but it is something else you could try (just in case).

[#8]

Just checked "acronyms" for PDF and found this....
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Printer+Description+File
Sorry for the linky, but there is a "copyright" notice attached to the explanation.....

[#9]

That copyright claim is stupid.
Since it relates to postscript, it originated at Adobe.
AFAIK, Adobe made postscript public domain.
So a dictionary can't claim "copyright". 

[#10]

That's the one I was thinking of shutter.
I assume that when the printer language is set to 'PDF', Libre-Office retrieves the printer language setting from the printer description file instead. Which would suggest that the default Postscript language setting used by Libre-Office on my PC did not suit my printer or printer driver.

[#11]

Thanks for all the previous posts. I have been without any Internet connections since Friday last, but am now back to proper working again without any action by me, must have been a very big BT foul-up somewhere.
What has puzzled me about this printing problem is that I have two apparently identical files (except for the actual data in the cells themselves) The first to be created now prints exactly as it should, thanks to Jim's researches, the second appears to be blank to the printing process. I will look at the printer settings for each file but cannot see that they could be different. It would be quite different if neither file would print.