Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Leading Zeros in Page Numbers.

Leading Zeros in Page Numbers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 8, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

Jackie asked if there was a way to include leading zeroes in the page numbers placed in a footer. She needs her page numbers to always be five characters long, with leading zeroes, as necessary, to fill out the length. Thus, page numbers would be 00001, 00002, etc.

Excel doesn't provide very good formatting for its page numbers. One solution (perhaps the most viable) is to print each page in your worksheet, one at a time, changing the page number as you go. This macro takes that approach:

Sub FormattedPageNums()
    Dim iPages As Integer
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim sFormat As String

    sFormat = "00000"
    ' Get count of pages in active sheet
    iPages = ExecuteExcel4Macro("Get.Document(50)")

    With ActiveSheet
        For J = 1 To iPages
            .PageSetup.CenterFooter = Format(J, sFormat)
            .PrintOut From:=J, To:=J
        Next J
    End With
End Sub

The macro discovers how many pages are in the entire printout, and then steps through each page of that printout. Prior to printing each page, individually, the .CenterFooter property is set equal to a formatted string that represents the page number with leading zeros.

You can modify the macro, as desired, to place different information in the footer. You could also change the area of the footer that is changed by using .LeftFooter or .RightFooter instead of .CenterFooter.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (5655) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Leading Zeros in Page Numbers.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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