.bmp background does not print with worksheet.

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I have applied a .bmp background (bg) to a spreadsheet (ss)but cannot get the bg to print.
Can someone tell me what I have left out of the process?
I am using Excel 2007 with MS Windows XP Office.
I open the worksheet, select the 'page layout' tab, in the 'pge setup' group the background icon is chosen, the .bmp image is chosen and applied to the worksheet containing the ss.
It looks very good on the screen at this point.
The print area is selected and printing is chosen.
The printed page contains onlly the ss without the bg.

All Excel & printer options look ok. No usefull suggestions can be found in the help file. A search of the FAQ and the MR. Excel site also has given no hits.

Am i missing a simple option or setting change?

Thanks,

BF

 

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For the MrExcel communities reference; I did a painfully long search and ended up back at the MS Excel Help which said:

'In Microsoft Office Excel, you can use a picture as a sheet background for display purposes only. A sheet background is not printed, and it is not retained in an individual worksheet or in an item that you save as a Web page.

Important Because a sheet background is not printed, it cannot be used as a watermark. You can, however, mimic a watermark by inserting a graphic in a header or footer.'

In otherwords, backgrounds cannot be printed. Ughh.

I hope this answer keeps others from going down this deadend road.