Setting the printing area can control the printing content of the Excel worksheet. If not set, Excel may contain unwanted rows and columns or miss the required data. The manual setting method is: 1. Select the range of cells to be printed; 2. Go to the "Page Layout" tab; 3. Click "Print Area" and select "Set Print Area". If you need multiple printing areas: 1. Set the first area first; 2. Press and hold the Ctrl key to select other areas; 3. Set the printing area again. Each area will be printed as a separate section. The methods to clear or adjust are: 1. Click "Clear Print Area" to reset; 2. Reselect the range and set or edit the range through the Name Manager. Notes include: use the print preview to confirm the layout, update the print area after data changes, and save the template with the print area for reuse.

Setting a print area in Excel helps you control exactly which part of your worksheet gets printed. If you don't set it, Excel might include extra columns or rows you don't need—or worse, miss the data you do want. Here's how to set and manage print areas effectively.

How to Set a Print Area Manually

This is the most common method and works great when you only need one specific section printed.

1. Highlight the range of cells you want to print.
2. Go to the Page Layout tab.
3. Click on Print Area , then choose Set Print Area .

That's all. Now when you go to print or use Print Preview, only that selected area will show up. It's helpful for reports or dashboards where you only want certain visuals or tables to print.

Setting Multiple Print Areas on One Sheet

If your sheet has separate blocks of data (like monthly summaries spread out), you can define more than one print area.

• First, select your initial range and set the print area as before.
• Then hold down the Ctrl key and select another range.
• Again, go to Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area .

Excel will remember both ranges. Just note: Each print area will print as a separate section—so they won't flow together on the same page. This is useful if you're printing multiple unrelated sections without creating separate sheets.

Clearing or Adjusting the Print Area

Sometimes you'll want to change or remove what's set. Here's how:

• To clear the print area completely:
  Go to Page Layout > Print Area > Clear Print Area .
  This resets everything back to normal printing behavior.

• To adjust the current print area:
  You can either redefine it by selecting a new range and repeating the “Set Print Area” step.
  Or use Name Manager under the Formulas tab to edit the range directly (a bit advanced but handy if you're comfortable with formulas).

One thing to watch out for: When adjusting, make sure you're not accidentally adding ranges instead of replacing them.

Tips for Managing Print Areas Smoothly

Here are a few things people often overlook:

• Use Print Preview (under the File menu or Quick Access Toolbar) after setting your area to double-check layout.
• If you move or delete data, update your print area accordingly—it doesn't adjust automatically.
• Save templates with predefined print areas if you reuse formats often.

It's easy to forget about print settings until you're at the printer, so setting this up ahead of time saves frustration later.

Basically that's it.

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