What's Going On Here? #

I’ve run into this exact frustrating quirk with LibreOffice Calc before! Here’s the breakdown of your issue:

• When setting page orientation to Portrait via Format > Page > Portrait, print preview looks totally normal
• But the print dialog shows a landscape thumbnail, and your printed content ends up shrunk to half size and arranged vertically
• Copying the table to a new workbook fixes the problem entirely

This is almost always caused by corrupted page setting cache or conflicting local sheet formatting in your original workbook. Let’s go through the fixes that worked for me:

1. Reset Sheet-Specific Page Settings #

Individual sheets can have hidden overrides that mess with orientation:

• Go to Format > Page and switch to the Sheet tab
• Look for custom scaling percentages, fixed print areas, or "Fit print range to" settings that might be overriding your portrait choice
• Click the Reset button at the bottom of the dialog to wipe those custom settings, then re-apply portrait orientation and test printing

2. Clear LibreOffice's Printer Cache #

LibreOffice sometimes stores wonky printer-specific settings that get stuck:

• Close LibreOffice completely (make sure no background processes are running)
• Navigate to your user's LibreOffice config folder:
  • Windows: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\LibreOffice\4\user
  • Linux: ~/.config/libreoffice/4/user
  • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/LibreOffice/4/user
• Delete the printer folder inside this directory
• Restart LibreOffice, re-set your portrait orientation, and try printing again

3. Check for Hidden Objects Messing Up Layout #

Hidden shapes, images, or even oversized merged cells can throw off LibreOffice's page orientation calculations:

• Press Ctrl+Shift+O to select all objects on the sheet
• Delete any unnecessary hidden objects you find (you might be surprised what’s lurking!)
• Double-check your page orientation settings and test the print dialog again

4. Save the File as a Fresh ODS #

If the original file has minor corruption, saving it as a new native file can clear it up:

• Go to File > Save As
• Pick ODS (LibreOffice Calc’s native format) and use a new filename
• Open the new file, set portrait orientation, and try printing again

Why Copying to a New Workbook Works #

The new workbook starts with totally default page and sheet settings—no leftover corrupted config or hidden overrides from your original file. That’s why it works perfectly there!

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者John Bailey