Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 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: Copying Print Areas when Copying Worksheets.

Copying Print Areas when Copying Worksheets

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 2, 2021)

Michael often copies worksheets within a workbook. This allows him to maintain the original worksheet and do his work on the newly copied worksheet. The one thing that doesn't copy from the source worksheet to the target worksheet is the print area. Michael would like a way to have the print area set in the newly copied worksheet after the copy is complete.

The answer depends on what you mean when you talk about copying worksheets. Let's say that you copy a worksheet in this manner:

  1. Create a blank worksheet.
  2. Display your source worksheet.
  3. Select all the cells in the worksheet.
  4. Press Ctrl+C to copy the cells to the Clipboard.
  5. Display the target worksheet (the one you created in step 1).
  6. Select a cell.
  7. Press Ctrl+V to paste the cells in the new worksheet.

This copies the contents of the source worksheet to the target worksheet, but it won't copy page settings, such as headers/footers, margins, and print areas. If you want to actually copy these items, you need to make sure you perform your copy using some variation of this procedure:

  1. Right-click on the worksheet tab of the worksheet you want to copy. Excel displays a Context menu.
  2. Choose Move or Copy from the Context menu. Excel displays the Move or Copy dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Move or Copy dialog box.

  3. Click the Create a Copy check box.
  4. Choose the worksheet before which you want the copy created.
  5. Click OK.

The resulting copy of your worksheet includes any page settings, including any print areas defined in the worksheet.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12100) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Copying Print Areas when Copying Worksheets.

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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