For school a PDF is often enough
A teacher does not want a link to a workbook the whole class can edit. They want a file that does not move. A PDF is a photo of the sheet. Tomorrow you change a grade — the PDF stays as you downloaded it.
That is fine. A hand-in is a snapshot. The workbook is a workshop.
In Google Sheets: File → Download → PDF document (.pdf). You can pick the whole workbook, or only the current sheet.
In Excel: File → Save as → PDF. Or File → Export → Create PDF.
A chart on its own: click the chart → three dots → Download → PNG. You already know that from the first chapter. Here you use it for real.
Before a PDF look at File → Print. You will see a preview: if the table fits on a page, if column D is not cut, if the chart did not jump to a second page. If it overflows, you narrow columns or in print settings put landscape.
First a preview, then a download
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Open sheet
Grades. Check that the table has headings, grades are numbers and the chart has a human title. A PDF will photograph a mess too. -
File → Print. On the right or in the middle you will see a page. Look: is the whole of column B visible? Is the chart not cut in half? Is there not an empty second page only because of one cell in column Z?
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If the table overflows right: narrow a column, or in print turn on Landscape. If it overflows down: shrink the scale, or print only the selected range A1:B10.
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閉じる the preview. File → Download → PDF. Pick current sheet, not the whole workbook — so empty
Sheet2andSheet3are not in the file. -
The file saves as
Spreadsheet.pdfor by the workbook name. Rename it at once:grades-march.pdf. NotDocument.pdf. NotUntitled.pdf.
Open the PDF. You must see headings, numbers and the chart. If the last column is missing, you skipped the preview. Delete the bad PDF, fix print, download again.
A chart as a PNG into a report
A PDF is a whole page. Into an essay or a presentation the chart itself is often enough.
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Click the chart on
Grades. Three dots → Download → PNG. -
Rename to
grades-march.png. The same stem as the PDF, a different ending. You will know they belong together. -
Open the PNG. The chart title must be readable. If it is blurry, download a PNG, not a tiny screenshot from a phone.
In Excel: right-click → Save as picture. If that button is not there, select the chart, Ctrl+C, paste into a presentation. Do not screenshot the whole monitor — you cut the bar and a bit of a foreign window.
A link “anyone with the link can edit” is not a hand-in. It is a key to the workshop. One joker deletes your SUM. Hard sharing is Workbook boss. Now send a file: PDF or PNG.
What should be visible in the PDF
Open the downloaded grades-march.pdf and go through it as a teacher. You have ten seconds.
You must see at once: the sheet name or table heading, columns Subject and Grade, five numbers, a chart with a sentence at the top. You must not see: a cut Grade, half a chart on the other side, an empty page, sheet メモs full of tries.
If the chart is on a second page alone, in the print preview shrink the scale, or pull the chart higher to the table. A PDF photographs the sheet layout. Moving a chart in the workbook is faster than hoping it “fits”.
In Excel the same logic: File → Print → preview. Landscape is Landscape. Current sheet is Active sheet.
What not to share as a link yet
Three things you can send a teacher now:
- A PDF of sheet
Grades—grades-march.pdf - A picture of the chart —
grades-march.png - Nothing else. Not the whole workbook with edit rights. Not a screenshot of a chat.
The file name says what is in it and from which month. Spreadsheet.pdf you will not know in a week. grades-pocket-all.pdf is too wide — the teacher does not know where to look.
If school wants paper, you print the PDF. You already saw the preview, so fewer things fail to fit than last time.
What often goes wrong
A cut column. In the workbook D is visible, in the PDF not. The print preview shows it. Narrow columns or put landscape.
An empty second page. Somewhere in row 200 you have a dot by mistake. Delete it, or print only the selected range.
A chart without a title. The PNG photographs Chart 1. Go back into the workbook, rewrite the title, download again. The old file does not fix itself.
The wrong sheet. You download メモs full of tries. Before download look at the tab at the bottom. Grades must light up.
An English menu. File → Download → PDF document. The same path, other words. Look for PDF, not “Web page”.
📊 Survey — handing in
Into a report belong two things: a picture of the chart and one sentence under it. The sentence takes a number from the table, not by eye from the height of a column. For example: “The most common snack is an apple, 8 of 22.” Attach a PDF of the sheet with the table when the teacher wants to see what the chart came from. 送信 a workbook link only when they ask for it out loud — and even then later with view rights.
Now you 💪
Two downloads, one open.
First: download a PDF from Grades. 名前 it grades-march.pdf. Open it. Check that the last column is not cut and the chart is not sliced.
Second: download a PNG of the chart. 名前 it grades-march.png. Open it. The title must be readable.
If you have a survey, do the same for it: survey-snack.pdf and survey-snack.png. Two files, human names, in Downloads.
Check: Chart maker can do a chart, number format and a file for school. In Downloads lies a PDF or a PNG with a name that makes clear what it is. Sorting and IF are the next level.
What to take from this lesson
- Sheets: File → Download. Excel: Save as. First a print preview.
- A chart can go as a PNG too. Fix the title before download.
- The file name says what is in it. Do not send a link “anyone can edit” now.
© 2026 Ing. Martin Polak / AlgoRhino · コンテンツ利用規約