Valerie has a business need to get Excel to use sequential page numbers across multiple tabs in a workbook, but she can't figure out how to do it. Each time she begins a new worksheet the page numbers start at 1 again.
There are two approaches you can use to get the page numbering you want. By default, Excel determines what it feels is the best starting page number when printing a worksheet. If you print just a single worksheet, Excel starts the numbering at page 1. If you print multiple worksheets at the same time (create a selection set of worksheet tabs before you start printing), then Excel prints the worksheets sequentially, one after the other, and numbers the pages sequentially as well.
Thus, to get the sequential page numbers you want, you should either select the worksheets you want to print before issuing a single print command or you should display the Print dialog box (Excel 2007) or the Print settings (Excel 2010 and later) and specify that you want to print the entire workbook.
The second approach is to specify, manually, what page number you want Excel to use for a beginning page number. This approach works well when you can't print all your worksheets at once or if the worksheets you need to print are in separate workbooks. All you need to do is display the Page Setup dialog box (display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon and click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Page Setup group) and use the First Page Number box to specify what page number you want Excel to use. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. Setting the starting page number.
One final note: You'll want to make sure that you have the headers or footers of your worksheets set up to actually include page numbers. Excel doesn't print them automatically; you need to specify that the header or footer contain a page number. (How you set up the header and footer is covered in other ExcelTips.)
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7758) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Sequential Page Numbers Across Worksheets.
Save Time and Supercharge Excel! Automate virtually any routine task and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then, learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! Mastering advanced Excel macros has never been easier. Check out Excel 2010 VBA and Macros today!
Yes, Excel can work with Roman numerals, and it even provides a worksheet function that converts to them. How you use ...
Discover MoreSetting up a single footer line for your printouts is fairly easy. If you want to move part of the footer down a line so ...
Discover MoreAdd an ampersand to the text in a header or footer and you may be surprised that the ampersand disappears on your ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2021-04-20 08:58:58
Tami Turnbull
We have completed everything above manually out in the page number to start on and have entire workbook selected in Page Settings and cannot get Excel to sequentially number between sheets
2018-10-30 12:40:14
Renee
Hi Allen,
Can you tell me how to print page 1 of for group printing?
I am printing by subtotals. I want my page numbers to end with each group and start over with the next group.
Thank you,
Renee
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2022 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments