Creating a Multi-Worksheet Report

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 25, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

Kathy used to use Report Manager in Excel 2003 for a monthly report that spanned several worksheets. She wonders if there is a way to create a multi-worksheet report and be "print ready" with the latest versions of Excel. She has been working with views, but once she selects more than one worksheet, the Custom View button is gray.

There is no need to use custom views to get the output you want. In fact, you don't need to use anything except regular print areas and the printing capabilities of Excel. Follow these general steps:

  1. Create your worksheets as you normally would.
  2. On each of the worksheets you want included in your report, define a print area that covers the range of cells you want printed from that worksheet.
  3. Select all the worksheets that you want included in your report, as a group.
  4. Press Ctrl+P. Excel displays the File tab of the ribbon with the Print area displayed.
  5. Click the first option under the Settings heading. In the resulting drop-down list, make sure that Print Active Sheets is selected and that Ignore Print Area is not selected.
  6. Click Print.

That's it; you end up with a printout that spans the multiple worksheets and includes only the appropriate print area on each worksheet.

If you need some help understanding how to set print areas (step 2), then you should check out this tip:

https://tips.net/T6294

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9391) applies to Microsoft Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

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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What is two more than 3?

2021-11-22 11:28:16

Nick From London

Hi
I select the relevant worksheets, then save as a pdf to provide a multi page document.
I have a VBA form with check boxes for the sheets to be printed.
But you can also do this manually.


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