How to Set Up Print Area in Excel: A Step-by-Step Guide

When working with Excel, setting a print area is essential for focusing on specific data sets you’d like to print, without including the rest of the worksheet. By customizing the print area, we ensure that our documents print exactly how we want them to, whether it is for a presentation, report, or a meeting. Considering the size and complexity of some workbooks, defining a print area can save us both time and resources.

Using the ‘Print Area’ function is straightforward. It allows us to define particular areas of a worksheet to print, rather than printing the entire sheet. This is especially useful when dealing with large spreadsheets where only a select range of cells needs to be printed. Once set, this print area is saved with the workbook, meaning we can return to it and print directly whenever necessary, without the need to reselect or adjust the print range.

Contents

1 Getting Started with Print Areas in Excel
- 1.1 Understanding the Basics
- 1.2 Accessing the Page Layout Tab
2 Setting and Modifying Print Areas
3 Advanced Print Area Options
4 Conclusion

Getting Started with Print Areas in Excel

When we prepare our Excel worksheet for printing, defining the print area is essential to ensure that only the relevant data is printed. Setting a print area in Excel allows us to control which cells appear on the printed page, saving us from printing unnecessary information and providing a cleaner, more professional output.

Understanding the Basics

Print areas in Microsoft Excel are a fundamental feature when we want to print specific parts of a worksheet. A print area is a range of cells that we designate to be printed. If we don’t set a print area, Excel will print the entire sheet, which might not be useful if we have a lot of data. By setting a print area, we make sure that only the data we’ve selected is printed, which is especially handy when dealing with large datasets.

Here’s how to interpret the concept:

When you set a print area, Excel remembers that setting until you change it. This means that the next time you go to print your document, Excel will only print that specified area.

Accessing the Page Layout Tab

To set a print area, we must first navigate to the Page Layout tab in the Excel ribbon. This tab contains all the settings we need for page setup, including the Set Print Area feature. Finding this feature is straightforward:

Open your worksheet in Microsoft Excel.
Select the cells you want to print.
Go to the Page Layout tab on the Ribbon.

Here’s a visual guide to the Page Layout tab:

Page Layout Tab	Commands Included	Action Required
Set Print Area	Set or Clear	Click to define area
Print Area	Adjustment	Add or remove cells
Customization	Size, Breaks	Set print options

Setting and Modifying Print Areas

In managing Excel spreadsheets, setting print areas ensures that only specific parts of your sheet are printed. We’ll go through how to select a range for printing, use the feature to set print areas, and adjust them as necessary.

Selecting a Range for Printing

Before we decide which part of our spreadsheet to print, we must first select the desired cells. Click and drag to highlight a range or hold Ctrl while clicking to select non-adjacent cells. It’s crucial to thoroughly review the selected range to ensure all necessary data is included.

Using the Set Print Area Feature

Once our range is selected, we can set it as the print area. This tells Excel to focus only on these cells when printing. We do this by going to the Page Layout tab, finding the Print Area option, and choosing “Set Print Area.”

To view the print area:

Navigate to the View tab.
Select “Page Break Preview.”

This preview mode shows exactly what will be printed. If adjustments are needed, they can be made before finalizing the print command.

Adjusting the Print Area

To modify or extend our print area, we have a couple of options.

To add to the print area, simply highlight additional cells, then choose “Add to Print Area” from the Page Layout tab.
To clear the print area, go back to the Print Area option and select “Clear Print Area.” This removes all previously set print areas, allowing us to redefine a new print area from scratch if needed.

Modify Print Area	Clear Print Area	Add to Print Area
Use “Page Setup” dialog from Page Layout or drag margins in “Page Break Preview”.	Select “Clear Print Area” from the Print Area dropdown in the Page Layout tab.	Select new cells and click “Add to Print Area” from the Print Area dropdown.

Keep in mind that any defined print areas are saved with the spreadsheet, so your settings persist across sessions. For extensive datasets, managing print areas can significantly streamline reporting and sharing of key information.

Advanced Print Area Options

When setting up sophisticated spreadsheet printing configurations, it’s crucial to master Excel’s advanced print area options. This section offers detailed guidance on effectively using Excel’s capabilities to fine-tune your printouts, especially when dealing with complex datasets.

Setting up Multiple Print Areas

To print various sections of your worksheet in separate pages, we can establish multiple print areas. Here’s how we do it: select the first range of cells to print and then navigate to Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area. For additional areas, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting other ranges and repeat the ‘Set Print Area’ step for each.

Working with Non-Contiguous Ranges

Sometimes, the data we need to print is not adjacent. In such cases, we select the first set of non-adjacent cells and set them as our print area. Holding the Ctrl key, we continue to select other non-contiguous ranges and add them to the print area. This ensures each selected range is printed on a separate page.

Incorporating Page Breaks

To control where one page ends and another begins, we manipulate page breaks. After defining print areas, switching to Page Break Preview under the View tab gives us a visual on how our pages will divide. We can manually adjust the breaks by dragging them to our preferred locations, ensuring our data is segmented precisely the way we need it for presentation.

Step	Instructions	Note
1. Select Range	Choose non-contiguous cells while holding Ctrl	Each range prints on a new page
2. Set Print Area	Use Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area	Repeat for multiple areas
3. Page Break Preview	Adjust manually in Page Break Preview	Drag breaks to preferred locations

Conclusion

We’ve explored the steps to set and modify the print area in Excel, a capability which enhances the control over the data we choose to include in our printouts. By incorporating this feature into our workflow, we ensure only pertinent information is shared or reviewed.

In practice, utilizing the print area option offers a polished look to our reports and presentations. We recommend incorporating these methods into your routine with a Practice Workbook to reinforce your understanding.

Advanced Excel Exercises	Frequently Asked Questions	Printing Tips
Test different print area setups.	Learn from questions others have had.	Optimize settings for ink conservation.
Try setting multiple print areas.	Master the Page Layout tools.	Experiment with page orientations.
Use names ranges for print areas.		Consider print quality versus speed.

As you continue to work with Excel, you’ll find the practice of setting print areas indispensable, especially when dealing with complex datasets. Remember, the beauty of Excel lies in its extensive customization—tailoring print areas is just one aspect of creating efficient, reader-friendly documents. Keep exploring and refining your skills to remain adept at this invaluable tool.