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Excel 2010 - ActiveX controls resize or shift during or after print preview

  • Article

Here's an interesting scenario. You have an Excel 2010 spreadsheet that contains multiple activeX controls. After you do a print preview of the spreadsheet and save the sheet, close it and re-open it you notice that some or all of the ActiveX controls are resized. They have either gotten smaller or larger, or have shifted left or right.

The fix for this problem is a two-part fix.

First, click on over to https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2596494 and click the hotfix link to request the hotfix package. Once you have the hotfix, install it.

After the hotfix is installed, you need to go into the registry and make an addition. From https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2596575:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel\Options

3.On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) value.
4.Type MultiSheetLegacyPrint, and then press ENTER.
5. In the Details pane, right-click MultiSheetLegacyPrint, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7.Exit Registry Editor.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2012
    This problem happens often with some of the models I use at work. Please push this fix out to all installations of Office 2010.

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 24, 2017
    I am having problems with ActiveX objects (list boxes, buttons) resizing when just using them in Excel 2016 (Office 365) with Win 10. Button gets smaller with each click, font gets larger ... I checked the button properties and the size is actually changing. Remnants of the original area of the button remains (not a clean resize). Buttons quickly become unusable because the click area is very small and the font is very large.On my PC (where I develop) with an extended display of the same resolution, the problem has never happened. But many who use the Excel apps I develop encounter the problem, and I see the problem consistently when I use a large LG/TV as a monitor (same resolution).