Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Setting Header/Footer Margins.

Setting Header/Footer Margins

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 12, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


When you create an Excel worksheet, you have the ability to change the margins used when the information in the worksheet is printed. This is done by choosing Page Setup from the File menu, then making adjustments on the Margins tab. The default left and right margin values are .75 inches, unless you change them as described in other issues of ExcelTips.

When you change the left and right margin values, and even if you change the default left and right margin values, there is no way to modify the left and right margins used by Excel to print headers and footers. These are apparently hard-wired to print at .75 inches, regardless of the settings you make within the Page Setup dialog box. They cannot even be changed via VBA.

Further information on this issue can be found in Microsoft's Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/124751

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2191) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Setting Header/Footer Margins.

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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