You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Numbers for Mac export to PDF adding extra pages

Help, I'm trying to export a long quote for a customer from Numbers to PDF. When I open the PDF file it is adding 2 extra pages in the PDF. The pages from the actual quote are correct and numbered - in this case at the end of page 8 then there are 2 pages of odd sized cells.

The export feature to PDF is doing this for any size document but I found a "fix" for small ones where you copy your cells that you want to print, select COPY and then open preview - New from clipboard and from that you can save as PDF. The problem is that this quote is too long and I can't select New from Clipboard.


I don't have PDF editor so I can't go in and delete the extra pages.


I have checked that I don't have any extra rows at the end of my quote



I really need to find a way to eliminate the extra off pages from the PDF, any help would be greatly appreciated!


Thank you

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 20, 2022 1:36 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 21, 2022 7:11 AM

Are those blank tables on other sheets? I believe page numbering starts over for each sheet. Delete those two extra sheets if this is the cause.


Exporting to PDF exports all sheets. Or, if printing to PDF and you choose "all sheets", all sheets will print even though only one sheet is shown at a time in the Print Preview (because each sheet has its own settings).

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 21, 2022 7:11 AM in response to oneyellowlab

Are those blank tables on other sheets? I believe page numbering starts over for each sheet. Delete those two extra sheets if this is the cause.


Exporting to PDF exports all sheets. Or, if printing to PDF and you choose "all sheets", all sheets will print even though only one sheet is shown at a time in the Print Preview (because each sheet has its own settings).

Jan 20, 2022 1:58 PM in response to oneyellowlab

I found a work around but it would be nice if this could be fixed. To avoid the extra pages being added I have to do the following:


Numbers / File/ Print and at the printer option on the bottom left corner PDF drop box select Save as PDF then for the Pages to print - choose range and select pages 1-8 in this case. For a 1 page document it will work if I select single page - then I only get the 1 page without the extra 2 pages being added in.


Jan 20, 2022 2:50 PM in response to oneyellowlab

One thing you could do is remove the extra columns/rows so it fits on a page better. That might be the first thing to do.


When you export to PDF you are given the choice of "fit each sheet to a single page" or "use print settings". If you want the PDF sheets to be whatever size they need to be to fit a whole sheet (at 100% scale I believe), choose the first one. This will put entire tables (the entire sheet actually) on one big page. It is great for viewing because there are no page breaks on a sheet but not so much for if someone needs to actually print it later.


The second one, "use print settings" is not quite what it says. It will export to PDF and make pages that look like what you would get from Print to PDF but the pages are not 8 1/2 x 11, at least according to Preview's inspector. If you want to go this route, you first go to the print settings and set things to print the way you want (each sheet has its own settings). After that you can export to PDF using print settings. Another thing about exporting using print settings, though, is if something has moved or grown in your tables/sheets you will need to check/change the print settings before exporting. It seems to me if you are going to be there checking/changing print settings you might as well Print to PDF while you are there and forget "exporting".

Jan 20, 2022 7:04 PM in response to Badunit


As far as the extra columns or rows they are not there and don't show when you are in print preview, there is some glitch that is adding those 2 pages when using the export feature - which is why the page numbers are both 1 - they don't exist in the sequence. My quote was 8 pages long and then those 2 extra pages were both labeled as page 1 in the footer.


Thanks for confirming the work around, at least that works!


Numbers for Mac export to PDF adding extra pages

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.