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: Massive Printouts.

Massive Printouts

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 3, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

1

Ever had this happen to you? You run a print job and are surprised to get 22 pages of output. That would have been fine, except you were expecting one or two at the most. Problem is, most of the pages that came out of the printer are empty!

The problem is most likely that you mistakenly selected a cell at a distant column and row and bumped into your Space Bar. That leaves no visible signs, but Excel thinks you want to print this space.

The solution is as simple as this:

  1. Press Ctrl+End. Excel moves to the cell it thinks is at the lower-right corner of your data.
  2. If there is nothing else in that column, delete the column.
  3. If there is something in the column, but nothing else in that row, delete the row.
  4. Use Print Preview to check how many pages Excel will print. Hopefully you are back to your expected number of pages.
  5. Print your worksheet as normal.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11945) 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: Massive Printouts.

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

Changing Horizontal Orientation

One of the international features of Excel is the ability to switch the orientation of how information is presented. This ...

Discover More

Status Bar Summing No Longer Available

When you select a range of cells, Excel normally displays the sum of those selected cells on the status bar. If the sum ...

Discover More

Creating an Inline Heading

When settling on an overall design for your document, you need to decide how you want your headings to appear. If you ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

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

Setting Up Your Printer

Need your printed output to look its best? You may need to change the settings used by your printer, then. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Printing a Draft of a Worksheet

Want to print out the fastest possible copy of your worksheet? You do so by printing a draft, discussed in this tip.

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 8 + 2?

2022-09-03 15:27:02

J. Woolley

Also, see https://excelribbon.tips.net/T012970_Jumping_to_the_Last_Possible_Cell.html

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.