Excel text & lines are 'wavy' - Why?

**42excel** · 07-04-2025, 08:31 AM

System: Microsoft 11 23H2 [latest updates installed]
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 [latest updates installed]
Printer: HP Deskjet 3000 J310 -- using 3rd party ink cartridges

I notice that when I print an Excel spreadsheet, the text and horizontal lines are not perfectly straight. Rather they are a little 'wavy'. Not sure if this was always the case or if this is new now that I use 3rd party ink cartridges.
Note that when I print Word documents, the text lines are straight.

Any thoughts about why should Excel does not print straight but Word does?

**6StringJazzer** · 07-04-2025, 10:35 AM

This is likely an issue with the printer drivers, rather than the Excel application. The latest drivers are about 3-1/2 years old. I'm assuming that's what you have installed. Version 8.1.1325, Dec 8, 2021. If not, update the drivers.

Any chance you can post a high-quality photo of a printout?

What if you export to a PDF, and then print the PDF? Does that look OK?

**42excel** · 07-04-2025, 11:28 AM

Thank you for your response.
When I print the PDF, the lines & text are still wavy.
There is no newer printer driver.
I reinstalled the printer software.
Also used the HP printer utility to clean the printer, clean the ink cartridges, and align the printer -- no change.
I wonder if the problem is with the black 3rd party ink cartridge (I wanted to save money compared to HP cartridge)?

**42excel** · 07-04-2025, 11:29 AM

Wish I had a black HP cartridge to try and see if that prints better.

**6StringJazzer** · 07-04-2025, 11:46 AM

If you view the PDF and lines are not wavy, but they are when you print it, then the problem almost certainly doesn't have anything to do with Excel. I cannot account for why you are getting different results for Word vs. Excel. It may be related to how the lines are rendered, color, things like that. When you say "horizontal lines" are you talking about default gridlines, or borders that you add by formatting? If your file does not have private data, consider attaching your PDF file here as a sample.

I have not had a similar problem. I've used HP printers but not your particular model. In general HP can be persnickety when you use third-party cartridges, although I have used them for the same reason as you.

**42excel** · 07-04-2025, 03:19 PM

6StringJazzer: I just realized something!! I printed 2 spreadsheets today. One has wavy lines and one does not when printed. I have attached snippets of both with personal info removed.
What do you think?
I attached them both.

**6StringJazzer** · 07-04-2025, 05:33 PM

That's interesting. These are both pretty bare-bones in terms of formatting. The main difference is the fonts, with minimal borders. If it were me, I would change the entire sheet in "wavy" to use Times New Roman 12 font style with no other changes and see what happens. It's just a shot in the dark but troubleshooting is a tedious process of ruling things out. This could be a font thing with the drivers, which is why a PDF would act the same way. I would also set up a Word file with some tables and use Calibri 11 and see if that becomes wavy.