In Excel, the print area is a range of cells only required to be printed from the spreadsheet.
In Excel, many times users only want to print only the specific area of the spreadsheet instead of printing the entire sheet.
For this, the user can define and create a printing selection area and once the printing area gets selected, every time user will get the print of that selected area range only.
Users can create multiple print area selections within the spreadsheet and each will get printed on a separate page.
We have quick and easy steps mentioned below on how to set and modify the Print Area selection in Excel.
Steps to Set the Print Area in Excel
- First, select the single cells range or the multiple cells ranges using the “Control” key that you want to set a print area in the sheet.
- After that, go to the “Page Layout” tab and click on the “Print Area” icon and then select the “Set Print Area” option.
- To view the print area selections, go to the “View” tab and click on the “Page Break View” icon and you will find the page breaks preview based on the print area selections.
The print area selections get saved, when you save the workbook, and each print area selection prints on a separate page means one print area selection per page.
Add Cells and Ranges to the Print Area
Anytime user can add the cells to expand the print area selections or to create the additional print area.
When a user adds the adjacent cells to the existing print area then Excel includes those cells within that existing print area selection.
Thus, that print area selection gets expanded and when a user adds non-adjacent cells range then Excel creates that range as an additional print area selection that Excel prints on a separate page.
- First, select the additional adjacent range of cells in case you want to expand the current print area selection.
- Or, select the additional non-adjacent range of cells in case you want to add a new print area with the existing print area in the spreadsheet.
- After that, go to the “Page Layout” tab and click on the “Print Area” icon and then select “Add to the Print Area”.
In the below “Page Break Preview”, you can see that Excel has expanded the print area selection where we have added adjacent cells and created an additional print area selection where we have added non-adjacent cells.
So, in this case you will get three print areas that will get printed on three separate pages.
Clear the Print Area Selection
Under the “Page Layout” tab Excel does not have the option to remove or clear any particular print area from multiple print areas within a sheet so, removing a print area means clearing all the print areas.
- First, click anywhere in the spreadsheet from which you want to remove the print area.
- After that, go to the “Page Layout” tab and click on the “Print Area” icon, and then select “Clear Print Area” and it will remove all the print areas from the sheet.
Ignore Print Area while Printing the Spreadsheet
Users can ignore the print areas to be printed while printing without clearing the print areas and can print the whole spreadsheet anytime.
- First, press “Ctrl + P” to print the opened spreadsheet and you will get the print dialog box opened.
- After that, click on the “Print Active Sheets” option and you will get the drop-down list.
- Now, select the “Ignore Print Area” option and excel will ignore the print area selection and print the whole spreadsheet.
