Excel Layout Menu: Print Area, Cell Width, Height, Scale

 

Page Layout Menu Overview

1. Print Area

• Purpose: To define a specific range of cells to print, allowing you to control which part of your worksheet is sent to the printer.
• Usage:
  • Access: Click Page Layout > Print Area.
  • Set Print Area:
    • Select the range of cells you want to include in your printout.
    • Click Print Area > Set Print Area. Excel will designate this range as the area to be printed.
  • Clear Print Area:
    • To reset or modify the print area, select Print Area > Clear Print Area to remove any previously set print area.
  • Adjusting Print Area:
    • To change the print area, adjust your selection and then reapply the Set Print Area option.

2. Cell Width

• Purpose: To adjust the width of columns to fit the content or to achieve a desired layout.
• Usage:
  • Access: Cell width adjustments are typically made directly from the Home tab, but are relevant when formatting for print.
  • Manual Adjustment:
    • Hover over the boundary line between column headers until the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow. Click and drag to adjust the width.
  • Automatic Adjustment:
    • Double-click the boundary line between column headers to auto-fit the column width to the contents.
  • Setting Specific Width:
    • Right-click on the column header, choose Column Width, and enter a specific value for the width.

3. Height

• Purpose: To adjust the height of rows to fit content or to standardize the row sizes in your worksheet.
• Usage:
  • Access: Similar to cell width, row height adjustments are generally made from the Home tab, but are important for print layout.
  • Manual Adjustment:
    • Hover over the boundary line between row numbers until the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow. Click and drag to adjust the height.
  • Automatic Adjustment:
    • Double-click the boundary line between row numbers to auto-fit the row height to the contents.
  • Setting Specific Height:
    • Right-click on the row number, choose Row Height, and enter a specific value for the height.

4. Scale

• Purpose: To adjust the size of the worksheet content to fit a specific number of pages or to scale up or down for printing.
• Usage:
  • Access: Click Page Layout > Scale to Fit group.
  • Scaling Options:
    • Width: Specify the number of pages wide that the content should fit.
    • Height: Specify the number of pages tall that the content should fit.
    • Scale: Set a percentage to scale the entire worksheet content up or down. For example, setting it to 50% will shrink the content to half its size.
  • Fit Sheet on One Page:
    • To ensure that the entire sheet fits on one page, set both the Width and Height options to 1 page.