The Page Setup Dialog Box

This dialog box is accessed by choosing File Page Setup. It consists of four tabs, “Page ”, “Margins ”, “Header/Footer ” and “Sheet ”. Each tab also contains several buttons that give you direct access to printing and print preview functions.

Page tab

Orientation

Use to specify the orientation for the printed image.

• Portrait (prints with the short edge of the paper horizontal)
• Landscape (prints with the long edge of the paper horizontal)

Scaling

Use to enlarge or reduce the printed worksheet. (Note: these options do not change the size of your sheet on the screen.) Microsoft Excel can scale a worksheet even for printer drivers that do not support scaling.)

• Adjust To
  • reduces or enlarges the printed sheet
  • you can reduce to 10 percent of normal size, or enlarge up to 400 percent
  • when printing chart sheets, this option is available only when using a printer that supports scaling.
• Fit To
  • reduces the sheet or selection during printing so that it fits on the specified number of pages, wide or tall
  • you can change the number of pages wide and the number of pages tall independently of each other
  • the sheet or selection is scaled proportionally, preserving its relative dimensions, so it may print on fewer than the specified number of pages
    • not available for chart sheets.

Paper Size

• select letter, legal, or other paper size options (sizes available may depend upon your printer)

Print Quality:

• select the resolution for printing your active sheet
• resolution is the number of dots per inch (DPI) that will appear on the printed page
• the higher the number, the better the quality.

First Page Number

• enter the starting page number for the printed pages of this sheet
• enter AUTO to:
  • start the page numbering at 1 (if it is the first page in the print job)
  • or at the next sequential number (if it is not the first page in the print job)
• To specify a specific starting page number enter a specific number

The Printing Buttons

• click [Print] to display the Print Dialog Box.
• click [Print Preview] to display the Print Preview window.
• click [Options] to display the Options Dialog Box
  • you can choose options that are specific to your selected printer, that is, the options available in this dialog box are specific to the printer driver that you have selected

the Margin tab

The Page Setup Dialog Box Margin tab selected

This tab is used to control the page margins, and the header and footer margins. You can also use this tab to center the sheet on the page vertically, horizontally, or both. The Sample area shows which dimension you are changing.

Setting Margins

• Top:
  • select the distance you want between your data and the top edge of the printed page
  • you may enter a number directly or click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number displayed
• Bottom
  • select the distance you want between your data and the bottom edge of the printed page
  • you may enter a number directly or click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number displayed
  • if your data is less than a page long, it will not expand to fill to the bottom margin.
• Left
  • select the distance you want between your data and the left edge of the printed page
  • you may enter a number directly or click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number displayed
• Right
  • select the distance you want between your data and the right edge of the printed page
  • you may enter a number directly or click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number displayed
  • if your data is less than a page wide, it will not expand to fill to the right margin.

Header/Footer Placement

• Header
  • select the distance you want between the header and the top of the page
  • you may enter a number directly or click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number displayed
  • these distances should be less than your margin settings to prevent your header or footer from overlapping the data.
• Footer
  • select the distance you want between the footer and the bottom of the page
  • you may enter a number directly or click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number displayed
  • these distances should be less than your margin settings to prevent your header or footer from overlapping the data.

Center On Page

• check the appropriate box(es) to center the worksheet on the page within the margins vertically, horizontally or both.

The Printing Buttons

• click [Print] to display the Print Dialog Box.
• click [Print Preview] to display the Print Preview window.
• click [Options] to display the Options Dialog Box
  • you can choose options that are specific to your selected printer, that is, the options available in this dialog box are specific to the printer driver that you have selected

the Header/Footer tab 

To Create a Header Using the List of Built-In Headers

• select the header that you want from the list of built-in headers
  • click on the triangle at the right edge of the dropdown list under [Header:]
  • the built-in header is then copied to the Header dialog box
• click the [Custom Header] button to now format or edit the selected built-in header
• note that the header area is divided into three sections, “Left”, “Center ”, and “Right ”

  

• click in the appropriate section, enter or edit text; the <TAB> key moves the cursor from one section to the next
• the buttons above the sections are used to:
  • open the Font Dialog Box so you can set font attributes for the text in the header
  • insert a code for the current page number
  • insert a code for the page count
  • insert a code for the current date
  • insert a code for the current time
  • insert a code for the filename
  • insert a code for the worksheet name

To Create a Custom Header

• click the [Custom Header] button
• click in the appropriate section, enter text; use the <TAB> key to move the cursor from one section to the next
• use the buttons described above to enter codes or format text

To Create Footers

• follow the same steps as described above for Headers to create a Footer

	The Use of the Ampersand in Headers and Footers The & character is a signal that indicates that the item immediately following is to be inserted. If the item immediately following is enclosed in square brackets, then the item is a code and Excel knows to treat it accordingly. For example, if the code &[Page] is inserted in a header or footer it is read as “insert the current page number” while &[Date] is read as “insert the current date”. If the item immediately following is not enclosed in square brackets, then Excel drops everything including the ampersand. For example, if you type Colors of M & Ms, the header (or footer) will contain Colors of M. Since, in this case, you want to include the ampersand character as part of the header (or footer), then what do you think should type? Reread the first sentence in this paragraph: The & character is a signal that indicates that the item immediately following is to be inserted. The second sentence begins: If the item immediately following is enclosed in square brackets, then the item is a code … If the item following the & character is not enclosed in square brackets, then it is not a code. What does Excel do? As the example of entering Colors of M & Ms demonstrated, everything from the & to the end is eliminated because, very simply, Excel does not see a code so it does not know what to do. There is one exception to this and that is when you enter &&. Excel treats this as a special case meaning “insert the ampersand character”! So if you wish to literally include the & character in a header or footer, you must type two & characters with no space in between!

The Printing Buttons

• click [Print] to display the Print Dialog Box.
• click [Print Preview] to display the Print Preview window.
• click [Options] to display the Options Dialog Box
  • you can choose options that are specific to your selected printer, that is, the options available in this dialog box are specific to the printer driver that you have selected

More About Headers and Footers

Headers and Footers may also be created by choosing View Header and Footer …. This will open the Page Setup Dialog Box and preselect the “Header/Footer ” tab.

Headers and Footers are not visible in the normal Excel screen. They are visible in the Header/Footer section of the Page Setup dialog box but here the different sections of the header/footer may overlap one another or they simply may not appear correctly due to the limited space. The only way to truly view them is to do a Print Preview! Headers and Footers must be set for each worksheet separately!

the Sheet tab 

Print Area

Used to specify the worksheet range to print

• use this option only when you will want to print a specific range of a worksheet
• if you want to print the entire worksheet, leave this box blank

To specify a print area you may:

• while in the worksheet
  • select the area you want to print
  • choose File Print Area Set Print Area
• or if the Sheet tab is already displayed
  • click on thebutton at the end of the in the Print Area box
  • the Page Setup Dialog Box will collapse leaving only the Print Area box visible
  • select the ranges of cells representing the print area you wish to print by dragging over the cells
    • to select noncontiguous range(s)
      • drag over the first range of cells
      • press Ctrl (Windows) or Shift (Macintosh) and drag over the second range of cells
      • repeat for additional ranges of cells if necessary
  • click on thebutton at the end of the Print Area box
  • the Page Setup Dialog Box will expand, the selected range of cells will now appear in the Print Area box

Print Titles

Used to select the print titles for the selected worksheets. Titles print as titles only after the rows or columns containing them are printed. For example, if you select a row or column on the second page as print titles, the titles will print only on the third and subsequent pages.

Rows To Repeat At Top

• click on thebutton at the end of the in the Rows To Repeat At Top box
• the Page Setup Dialog Box will collapse leaving only the Rows To Repeat At Top box visible
• select the row(s) you wish to appear as titles across the top of the page(s)
• click on thebutton at the end of the Rows To Repeat At Top box

Columns To Repeat At Left

• follow the same procedure as described for the Rows to Repeat At Top to select the column(s) you wish to appear as titles along the left of the page(s)

Print

Gridlines

• prints the horizontal and vertical cell gridlines on worksheets
• the default setting is for cell gridlines to not print; “check” this box if you want gridlines to print

  to display or hide gridlines on the screen choose Tools Options select the [View] tab “uncheck” the Gridlines check box under [Window options]

Black And White

• prints cells and drawing objects in black-and-white
• anything in the foreground that is not entirely white is printed as black
• anything in the background that is not entirely black is printed as white
• if you formatted your data with colors but print on a black-and-white printer, select this option
• if you use a color printer but want faster printing, selecting this option may reduce printing time.

Comments

• prints any cell comments on the sheet or on additional pages
• by default, comments do not print, notice (None) in the box
• choose At end of sheet to have your comments print as “endnotes” on a separate sheet

Row And Column Headings

• prints row numbers and column letters in the A1 reference style, or numbered rows and columns in the R1C1 reference style

Draft Quality

• prints fewer graphics and suppresses printing of cell gridlines
• this option reduces printing time.

Page Order

Controls the order in which your data is numbered and printed when it does not fit onto one page.

Down, Then Over

• numbering and printing proceed from the first page to the pages below, and then move to the right and continue printing down the sheet.

Over, Then Down

• numbering and printing proceed from the first page to the pages to the right, and then move down and continue printing across the sheet.

The Print Buttons

• click [Print] to display the Print Dialog Box.
• click [Print Preview] to display the Print Preview window.
• click [Options] to display the Options Dialog Box
  • you can choose options that are specific to your selected printer, that is, the options available in this dialog box are specific to the printer driver that you have selected

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Copyright©2003
last updated August 13, 2003