Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Specifying an Order for Page Printing.

Specifying an Order for Page Printing

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

When the information you have in worksheet won't fit on a single page, Excel automatically breaks it up—at row or column boundaries—and prints the information on multiple pages. You can control the order in which Excel prints pages.

For instance, let's say the information in your worksheet is both too wide and too long to fit on a single sheet. Instead, the printed material will take four pages to print. The first page printed will always be the information at the top left corner of the print area. You can control whether Excel prints the information beneath page one as page two, or the information to the right of page one as page two. Follow these steps:

  1. Select the Page Layout tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the small icon in the lower-right corner of the Page Setup group. Excel displays the Page Setup dialog box.
  3. Make sure the Sheet tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  4. In the Page Order area of the dialog box, specify how you want Excel to print your pages. (Notice that as you make a selection, Excel graphically shows how your printing will occur.)
  5. Click on OK.
  6. Print as normal.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6143) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Specifying an Order for Page Printing.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Feeling All Powerful?

Need all your Control Panel shortcuts in a simple place? Use this tip to create a special folder that contains all the ...

Discover More

Turning Off Sharing

All good things must come to an end at some point. When you are done sharing your workbook with others, this is how you ...

Discover More

Foul Water Odor

Got a foul odor coming from your water tap? It could be caused by a number of different issues, as discussed in this tip.

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Creating Individual PDFs by Worksheet

Want to print your worksheets to their own PDF? This can be quite manually intensive, unless you put the macro in this ...

Discover More

Printing Gridlines by Default

When you print a worksheet, Excel allows you to also print handy gridlines for the worksheet. If you want to include the ...

Discover More

Preventing Changes to Multiple Selected Worksheets

It is common to select a group of worksheets and then print them. When done, any edits you make may affect the entire ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.