Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Changing Page Number Format.

Changing Page Number Format

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 4, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365


When you print a worksheet, you can have Excel include a variety of items in the header or footer of the printout. One of the things you can include is the page number of the page being printed. This page number is pretty mundane—it is the Arabic value of the page being printed, as in 1, 2, 3, etc.

Some people may long for a way to print page letters (A, B, C) instead of page numbers (1, 2, 3). There is no intrinsic way to do this in Excel. You can, however, develop a macro that will figure out the letter that should be associated with a page, and then use that letter in the footer. The following macro does just that:

Sub LetterPageNums()
    Dim sArr(27 * 26) As String
    Dim iPages As Integer
    Dim J As Integer, K As Integer

    ' Fill page letter array
    ' "A", "B", "C", ...,"AA", "AB", etc.
    For J = 0 To 26
        For K = 1 To 26
            If J > 0 Then
                sArr((J * 26) + K) = Chr(J + 64) & Chr(K + 64)
            Else
                sArr(K) = Chr(K + 64)
            End If
        Next K
    Next J

    ' Get count of pages in active sheet
    iPages = ExecuteExcel4Macro("Get.Document(50)")

    ' Print worksheet, page by page
    With ActiveSheet
        For J = 1 To iPages
            ' Set page letter
            .PageSetup.CenterFooter = sArr(J)
            ' Print page(J)
            .PrintOut From:=J, To:=J
        Next J
    End With
End Sub

First, the macro figures out the letter equivalent of pages numbers and puts them in an array. In this case, up to 702 page letters are calculated, which should be more than enough for any print job. The letters are A through Z, then AA through AZ, BA through BZ, and all the way up to ZA through ZZ.

Then, iPages is set to the number of pages in the worksheet. Finally, each page is individually printed, with the page letter being placed into the center footer of the worksheet. If you want the page letter in some different place, use .LeftFooter or .RightFooter instead of the .CenterFooter property. (You can also use .LeftHeader, .CenterHeader, and .RightHeader, if desired.)

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 (12930) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Changing Page Number Format.

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

Entering Calculations in a Form Field

One of the many uses for Word is to create forms that can be easily filled in by other people. This is made possible by ...

Discover More

Problem with Menus Crashing Word

What do you do if, one day, one of your Word menus suddenly stops working and actually crashes the program? Here's the ...

Discover More

Enforcing a Desired Font

If your workbooks are shared and used by a number of different people, you may end up with some formatting in those ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Adding Ampersands in Headers and Footers

Add an ampersand to the text in a header or footer and you may be surprised that the ampersand disappears on your ...

Discover More

Leading Zeros in Page Numbers

Page numbers in Excel printouts are typically simple counters, without much chance for embellishment. If you want to add ...

Discover More

Using a Custom Date Format in a Header or Footer

Need to show a custom date in the header or footer of a printout? You'll need to resort to using a macro, as described in ...

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.

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 three less than 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.