How to Print Part of an Excel Spreadsheet

This updated guide examines How to Print Part of an Excel Spreadsheet and organizes the essential facts, background, and practical takeaways in clear American English.

Method 1

Printing from a Selection

1. Open your Excel worksheet. Double-click the worksheet or go to 'File > Open' in Excel.
2. Highlight the cells that you want to print. Click and hold the first cell in the range and drag the cursor until you've highlighted all the cells that you want to print.
3. Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Print'. The menu is in the top left corner of your screen and brings up 'Print Settings'.
4. Choose 'Print the selection'. Below the selected printer device is a dropdown menu to select which part of the workbook you wish to print. This selection will set the print to use only the area of the spreadsheet you have highlighted.
5. Press 'Print'. The button is located at the top of the menu. All content except your selection will be excluded from the print.

Method 2

Using a Print Area

1. Open your Excel worksheet. Double-click the worksheet or go to 'File > Open' in Excel.
2. Highlight the cells that you want to print. Click and hold the first cell in the range and drag the cursor until you've highlighted all the cells that you want to print.
3. Go to the 'Page Layout' tab. This tab is located in the top menu bar, a few options to the right of the 'File' menu. Here you can access a number of settings to format your spreadsheet. Among these options is 'Print Area'.
4. Set the Print Area. Press 'Print Area' and select 'Set Print Area' from the dropdown. The highlighted cells will be designated to the print area. This area will be saved for future printing and you can continue to work.
   • The 'Orientation' button switches between landscape and portrait orientation.
   • The 'Margins' button adjusts the margins on a printed page.
   • 'Scale to Fit' chooses how many pages you want to fit your printed content into.
   • You can clear, overwrite or add to the print area from the same dropdown menu.
5. Go to 'File' and select 'Print'. The menu is in the top left corner of your screen and brings up 'Print Settings'.
6. Adjust the print settings. In the dropdown menu under the printer device, make sure 'Print Active Sheet(s)' is selected and that the 'Ignore Print Area' checkbox is NOT selected.
   • Note that 'Print the selection' means that any newly highlighted selection overrides your designated print area.
7. Press 'Print'. The button is located at the top of the menu, and the page will print with your print area and page layout adjustments.

Method 3

Printing Individual Sheets From a Workbook

1. Open an Excel file with multiple sheets. In a large workbook, there may be only one or two sheets you want printed. In Excel, go to the 'File' menu and select 'Open' or simply double-click an Excel file.
2. Select the sheet(s) you want to print. Click the sheet name in the bottom bar. Multiple sheets can be selected usingCtrl+ click (?Cmd+ click on Mac).
3. Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Print'. The menu is in the top left corner of your screen and brings up 'Print Settings'.
4. Select 'Print Active Sheet(s)'. The first option below the selected printer device is a dropdown menu to select which areas of the workbook to print. 'Print Active Sheet(s)' will set the printer to only print the sheets you selected instead of the entire workbook.
5. Adjust other print settings. Dropdown menus below the selection menu allow you to adjust layout options like page orientation or margins from this panel.
   • If you previously set a print area but decide against using it, select 'Ignore Print Areas' to ignore.
6. Press "Print". The button is located at the top of the menu and your selected sheets will print, excluding the others.