Print an Excel Sheet Neatly: Fit to Page and Titles

To print an Excel sheet that fits the page, you usually need three settings: scaling so the columns fit the paper width, the right orientation, and header rows repeated on every page. Excel's defaults print at 100% size, which often splits a wide table across two pages. This guide shows the clicks for each setting on Windows and Mac, in the order that gives the neatest result.

Start with Print Preview#

Always check Print Preview before you change anything. Press Ctrl+P on Windows or ⌘P on a Mac, or go to File > Print. The preview on the right shows exactly what will print and how many pages there are (at the bottom, for example "1 of 4").

If the preview shows a few columns spilling onto extra pages, you need scaling. If it shows a long list with no headers after page 1, you need print titles. Both are covered below.

How to fit an Excel sheet to one page#

The quickest fix is in the Print screen. Under Settings, the last drop-down says No Scaling. Click it and choose one of these:

For most lists, Fit All Columns on One Page is the right choice. Fit Sheet on One Page on a 300-row list makes the text too small to read.

The same setting on the ribbon#

On the Page Layout tab, the Scale to Fit group has Width and Height boxes. Set Width to 1 page and leave Height on Automatic. That is the same as Fit All Columns on One Page. The Scale box shows the percentage Excel is using; if it drops below about 70%, the print may be hard to read, so try Landscape first.

For exact control, open Page Setup (the small arrow at the bottom right of the Page Setup group), go to the Page tab and set Fit to 1 page wide by a blank number of pages tall.

Choose landscape or portrait#

Wide tables fit better in Landscape. Go to Page Layout > Orientation > Landscape, or change it under Settings in the Print screen.

Landscape often gets a wide table back to 100% scale without any shrinking. Try it before you reduce the scale.

Repeat the header row on every page#

When a list runs over several pages, only page 1 shows the headers by default. Print titles fix this:

1. Go to Page Layout > Print Titles. The Page Setup dialog opens on the Sheet tab.
2. Click in Rows to repeat at top, then click row 1 on the sheet. Excel fills in $1:$1. For two header rows, use $1:$2.
3. To repeat a column of labels on the left of every page, use Columns to repeat at left, for example $A:$A.
4. Click OK and check Print Preview.

On a Mac, the same setting is under Page Layout > Page Setup > Sheet. In Excel for the web you can't currently repeat header rows on every page, so use the desktop app for long printouts.

Print only part of the sheet#

To print a block of cells rather than the whole sheet, set a print area:

1. Select the cells, for example A1:F40. Our guide to selecting ranges fast shows how to grab a whole table in one keystroke.
2. Go to Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area.

Excel saves the print area with the file, so it prints the same block every time. Use Print Area > Clear Print Area to go back to the full sheet. For a one-off print, select the cells and choose Print Selection under Settings in the Print screen instead.

If some rows or columns shouldn't print at all, such as working notes, hide them first. Hidden rows and columns don't print. See how to hide and unhide rows and columns.

Control page breaks#

Excel decides where each page ends. To see and move those breaks, go to View > Page Break Preview. Blue lines show the page edges; drag a line to change where a page breaks. A dashed line is an automatic break, and a solid line is one you set.

To force a new page before a row, select the row and choose Page Layout > Breaks > Insert Page Break. Note that when Fit To scaling is on, Excel can ignore manual page breaks; switch the scaling to Adjust to a percentage if you need them.

Finishing touches: margins, gridlines and page numbers#

A few settings make a printout look professional:

• Margins: Page Layout > Margins > Narrow gives more room for data. In Page Setup, the Margins tab also lets you tick Center on page: Horizontally.
• Gridlines: Excel doesn't print gridlines by default. To print them, tick Print under Gridlines in the Sheet Options group on the Page Layout tab. Borders you add yourself always print.
• Row and column headings: tick Print under Headings in the same group to print the A, B, C and 1, 2, 3 labels, which helps when someone needs to refer to a cell.
• Page numbers: go to Insert > Header & Footer, click in the footer and choose Page Number, or pick a ready-made footer like "Page 1 of ?" on the Header/Footer tab of Page Setup.

Clear number formats matter on paper too: totals in currency and rates as percentages are easier to read. Our guide to formatting numbers as currency, percent and dates covers the shortcuts.

A quick checklist before you print#

1. Preview with Ctrl+P (Mac: ⌘P).
2. Choose Landscape if the table is wide.
3. Set Fit All Columns on One Page.
4. Set Rows to repeat at top for long lists.
5. Set a print area if you only need part of the sheet.
6. Add page numbers if there is more than one page.

Neat printouts and PDFs are an everyday task in office roles, as our guide to Excel skills for admin jobs explains. If you're sharing the file as well as printing it, consider protecting the sheet so formulas can't be changed by accident.

Practise it#

A printout is only as clear as its formatting. Practise bold headers, currency and percent formats in a live spreadsheet with the formatting shortcuts lesson, then apply the print settings above to your own file.