Changing Cell Values while Printing

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 18, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


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Madhabi wants to print four copies of a worksheet, but have the value of cell A7 change for each copy. The four values are "Original," "Duplicate," "File," and "Driver." All other data being the same, Madhabi wonders how he can change the text of cell A7 while printing.

One possible approach is to create four different worksheets that contain essentially the same information. Worksheets 2 through 4 could all reference cells on worksheet 1, with the exception of cell A7 which could be set on each worksheet to a different value ("Original," "Duplicate," etc.).

A better approach, however, would be to create a quick macro that you could use for your printing. The macro could handle changing the value of cell A7 just before the worksheet is printed each time. Here's a simple example:

Sub PrintCopies()
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim VList As Variant

    VList = Array("Original", "Duplicate", "File", "Driver")
    For i = LBound(VList) To UBound(VList)
        Range("A7") = VList(i)
        ActiveSheet.PrintOut 
    Next
End Sub

The macro places the four values destined for cell A7 into an array. The macro then steps through each of the four array elements, putting the value into cell A7, and then printing the worksheet. Printing is done to whatever the default printer is on the system.

The macro could easily be assigned to a shortcut key or to the Quick Access Toolbar (as described in other ExcelTips) so that it you could print all four copies quickly.

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 (9962) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 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 four less than 4?

2021-10-27 10:25:01

J. Woolley

@Andrew
Put the number of copies in cell A7, then run this:

Sub PrintCopies()
ActiveSheet.PrintOut Copies:=[A7]
End Sub

Also, see https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/


2021-10-26 13:32:56

Andrew

This is great! How would you go about printing out as many sheets as the number in a cell. Lets say the number in the cell was 3. The macro would then print out 3 copies of the sheet.


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