By default, Excel starts printing from the upper left corner of your spreadsheet. But sometimes, you want to print only a selected section of your file. Let’s learn how to set print area in Microsoft Excel.
How to Set Print Area in Excel
Consider a list of data with multiple columns inside it. You want to print out the file, but you don’t need all of the data contained in it. For example, this spreadsheet has four columns of data: first name, last name, city, and state. You want to print only the lower half of the list of cities and states.
Of course, you could copy and paste the relevant data into cell A1 of a blank worksheet, and print it out. But thanks to Excel’s Print Area feature, there’s no reason to duplicate your work. Print Area lets you specify exactly what parts of a spreadsheet to print, and then places your selection in the upper left corner of a new page.
To set the print area here, click and drag your cursor to select only the cells containing data that you want to print. Here, that’s I7:J11. Then, go to the File dropdown menu in the upper left corner of your screen. Click on it.
Down at the bottom, you’ll see the Print Area menu. Hover over it, and click Set Print Area. That’s all it takes!
Now, when you click Print, you’ll see a small page preview of your printout. You’ll see that only your selected data appears. The other data won’t print, but it still remains in view in your spreadsheet on-screen.
Need to change or remove the Print Area setting? Back on the Print Area tab in the File menu, simply click Clear Print Area. Your printout will return to default settings.
As you can see, it’s easy to tell Excel exactly what to print, thanks to the Print Area feature.
Round in Excel