Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool used for creating and managing data, but printing from Excel can be tricky if not done properly. Unlike Word, Excel has a grid-based layout, and sometimes your data doesn’t fit neatly onto a printed page. That’s why it’s important to understand how to use Print Preview, adjust page setup settings, page breaks, and print properly.
Let’s explore everything you need to know to print perfectly from Excel — clearly and step by step.
1. What is Print Preview in Excel?
Print Preview is a feature in Excel that lets you see how your Excel sheet will look when printed. It shows a preview of the printed page, so you can:
- Check how much of your data fits on each page
- See if any columns or rows are getting cut off
- Adjust margins, orientation, and scaling
- View headers, footers, and page numbers
It helps you check the layout, margins, page breaks, and formatting before you print the document. This way, you can fix any mistakes or adjust the layout to make sure everything looks perfect on paper. By using Print Preview, you avoid printing unnecessary pages and wasting paper or ink.
2. How to Open Print Preview?
You can access Print Preview in two ways:
- Press Ctrl + P on your keyboard
- This immediately opens the Print Preview and Print Settings pane
This shortcut saves time and brings you directly to the print setup screen without clicking through menus.
Using Ribbon Menu
- Click on File → Print
- It takes you to the Print Preview screen
Now, you will see:
- On the right: Preview of the printed page
- On the left: All the settings like printer, pages, copies, margins, orientation, etc.
What You Can Do in Print Preview
Once you press Ctrl + P, you’ll see several options and a preview of your document on the right side:
- Choose Printer: Select a connected printer.
- Print Active Sheets / Entire Workbook / Selection: Choose what to print.
- Page Orientation: Switch between Portrait and Landscape.
- Paper Size: Adjust paper size as needed (A4, Letter, etc.).
- Margins: Set normal, wide, or narrow margins.
- Scaling Options: Fit your data to one page wide or tall.
- Preview Pages: Scroll to see all pages of the output.
3. Adjusting Print Settings in Excel (Every Option Explained)
Once you’re in Print Preview (Ctrl + P), you’ll see several options under the Settings section. Here’s what each one means:
a) What to Print:
When you open Print Preview, the first dropdown under the Settings section controls what part of your workbook to print. Click the dropdown to see three options:
1. Print Active Sheets:
This is the default option. It prints only the current worksheet (the one you were on before opening the print menu).
If you want to print only one sheet, this is the right choice.
Tip:
If you want to print multiple sheets, hold Ctrl and click the sheet tabs at the bottom before opening the Print Preview. Excel will then print all selected sheets.
2. Print Entire Workbook:
This option prints all the worksheets in the Excel file, one after another.
Useful when you want to print the full workbook.
Note: Make sure all sheets are properly formatted for printing (margins, fit to page, etc.), otherwise pages may look uneven.
3. Print Selection:
This prints only the cells or table range you manually select.
How to Use:
- Open your Excel worksheet
- Use your mouse to highlight/select the cells or table you want to print
- Press Ctrl + P to open the Print Preview screen
- Excel will automatically highlight Print Selection in the Settings dropdown (if a selection was made before)
- Review the preview and click Print
This is useful when you want to print only a small part of a large table.
If you don’t select cells before opening Print Preview, the Print Selection option may still appear, but it will print a blank page.
b) Select Specific Pages to Print (Page Range Option):
If your Excel sheet spreads across multiple printed pages, but you only want to print a few of them (e.g., pages 2 to 4), you can use the Page Range option.
Steps:
- In the Print Preview screen, Under the Settings, find the Pages option.
- Enter the page numbers in the From and To boxes.
- Excel will now print only pages 2 to 4
Use this when you want to avoid printing the entire sheet and focus on only the needed pages.
Note:
This feature works best when your worksheet already splits into multiple pages. You can view the total number of pages on the right side of the Print Preview screen.
c) Page Orientation – Portrait or Landscape
This controls the direction of your print page.
- Portrait – Prints vertically (good for tall, narrow data)
- Landscape – Prints horizontally (better for wide tables with many columns)
How to Set It:
- In the Print Preview screen, Under the Settings, find the Orientation dropdown.
- Choose Portrait or Landscape from the list.
Tip:
If your columns are getting cut off on the printed page, try switching from Portrait to Landscape. It gives more space horizontally and often solves layout issues for wide tables.
d) Paper Size – Choose Correct Page Size
In the Print Settings panel of the Print Preview screen, one of the key options is Paper Size. This setting tells Excel what size of paper you’ll be using in your printer, so it can format the print layout accordingly.
Paper Size controls how large or small your printed page will be. Choosing the correct size ensures that your data fits on the page properly and aligns with your actual paper.
Common Paper Sizes:
- A4 – Standard paper size and most commonly used
- Letter – Often used for letterheads, business letters and pre-printed forms.
- Legal, A3, and others – Available for larger documents
How to Set Paper Size:
- In the Print Preview screen, Under the Settings section, find the Paper Size dropdown.
- Select the paper size that matches the one loaded in your printer.
Make sure the paper size matches the paper in your printer.
Note:
If the paper size selected in Excel Print settings does not match the paper in your printer, the printout may be misaligned, cut off, or not centered correctly. Always check and match both.
e) Margins – Set Space Around the Page
Margins are the blank spaces between your content and the edge of the paper. They help keep your printout neat, readable and within the printable area of the page.
Choosing the right margin setting ensures that your content doesn’t get too close to the edge — or waste too much space.
Types of Margin Options:
- Normal – Standard spacing (suitable for most prints)
- Wide – Adds more white space, useful for notes or binding
- Narrow – Reduces space around the content; fits more data on the page
- Custom Margins – Allows you to manually set the top, bottom, left, and right margins
How to Set It:
- In the Print Preview screen, Under the Settings section, click the Margins dropdown.
- Choose from Normal, Wide or Narrow
- For custom spacing, click on Custom Margins. Enter specific values for Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins.
When to Adjust Margins:
- The content looks too close to the edge of the paper.
- You want to leave space for binding or annotations.
- You want to fit more content by reducing blank space.
Tip: Use Narrow margins carefully—while they help fit more data, some printers may not print content near the edges properly.
f) Scaling (Fit to Page): Make All Data Fit
When your Excel sheet has too many columns or rows to fit neatly on one printed page, Scaling adjusts the size of your content to fit it onto the page without cutting off rows or columns.
This is especially helpful when:
- You have a wide table with many columns.
- Your data runs over several pages, and you want to fit it on one.
How to Set It:
- In the Print Preview screen, Under the Settings section, click on the Scaling dropdown. You’ll see:
- No Scaling – Prints your sheet at its original size.
- Use this when your data already fits well on the page.
- Fit Sheet on One Page – Shrinks all rows and columns to fit on a single page.
- Text may become very small if the sheet is large.
- Fit All Columns on One Page – Keeps all columns on one page horizontally.
- Best for wide sheets with many columns.
- Rows may be split across multiple pages.
- Fit All Rows on One Page – Keeps all rows on one page vertically.
- Useful for long lists.
- Columns may go onto another page.
- Custom Scaling Options – Lets you:
- Manually set a percentage scale (e.g., 75%, 90%)
- Choose the exact number of pages wide and pages tall your sheet should fit into
- Select one of the options (e.g., Fit All Columns on One Page).
- Use Custom Scaling Options if you need more control
Tip:
Use “Fit All Columns on One Page” when your table is wide and columns are getting cut off. It helps keep the data aligned horizontally on one page.
Use Custom Scaling if you want to reduce to a specific number of pages (e.g., 1 page wide, 2 pages tall)
To avoid cut-off data:
- Select Fit Sheet on One Page
- OR Fit All Columns on One Page
- OR Fit All Rows on One Page
4. Page Breaks – How to Control Where Pages End
When printing large Excel sheets, Excel automatically splits the content into multiple pages. However, these page breaks may occur in the middle of a table, chart, or important data section — which can make your printout look messy.
To fix this, Excel gives you full control over page breaks using two powerful tools.
🔹 1. Page Break Preview Mode
This view helps you see exactly where Excel splits your pages. You can easily move the breaks by dragging lines.
How to Use:
1. Go to the View tab.
2. Click Page Break Preview.
3. Your sheet will now show blue lines (page boundaries).
4. Click and drag the blue lines to adjust where pages start or end.
Move vertical lines to change column breaks
Move horizontal lines to change row breaks
This gives you visual control over your print layout.
To go back to normal view, click View > Normal
🔹 2. Insert or Remove Manual Page Breaks
You can manually insert or remove page breaks exactly where you want a new page to begin.
How to Use:
1. Select a row or column where you want to insert a page break
2. Go to the Page Layout tab
3. Click Breaks in the Page Setup group
4. Choose:
Insert Page Break to force a new page
Remove Page Break to delete an existing break
This is useful when you want to control the print flow, especially in reports or forms.
Tip: Use Page Break Preview along with Scaling and Margins for perfect control over how your sheet prints.
5. Page Layout Tab – Useful Settings Before Printing
Before you go to Print Preview, the Page Layout tab in Excel gives you several tools to prepare your worksheet for printing. This helps you save time later and ensures your printout looks just the way you want.
Key Options in the Page Layout Tab:
a) Print Area – Set a specific range of cells to print
Go to: Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area
Use this to print only a selected part of the sheet.
b) Print Titles – Repeat header rows or columns on every printed page
Useful for long sheets where you want the top row (like headings) to appear on every page.
c) Gridlines – Show or hide Excel’s cell grid in the printout
Helpful when printing data tables for easier reading.
d) Headings – Choose whether to print row numbers and column letters (e.g., A, B, C, 1, 2, 3)
Good for reference but can be turned off for clean reports.
Tip:
For more advanced setup, click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup group to open the full Page Setup dialog box.
6. Final Step: Select Printer and Print
Once you’ve adjusted all the settings in Print Preview, it’s time to print your worksheet.
Steps to Print:
- Open the Print Preview screen (press Ctrl + P)
- Choose your printer from the top dropdown list
- Set the number of copies you want to print
- Review your print preview on the right side of the screen
- Click the Print button.
Your printout will be generated based on the settings you configured.
7. Extra Tips for Better Printing in Excel:
Use the Page Setup dialog for full control over:
- Orientation
- Scaling
- Margins
- Headers and footers
Use the Header & Footer tab inside Page Setup to insert:
📄 Page Numbers
🕒 Date and Time
📁 File Name
📝 Custom Text (e.g., Report Title or Confidential)
Always check how many pages your worksheet will print (shown in the bottom-left of Print Preview).
This helps avoid accidentally printing 20+ pages when only 1–2 are needed.
Printing in Excel can seem complicated at first, but once you understand each step, it becomes easy and efficient. Always begin with Print Preview (Ctrl + P), adjust the orientation, margins, and scaling, set your print area and page breaks, and then select your printer and print.
By doing this, you can save paper, time and avoid frustration — and produce a clean, professional-looking printout of your Excel data.