Printing a Number of Different Pages

Excel obviously allows you to print your worksheets to a printer. Sometimes a worksheet will fit on a single page, but other times it will flow to multiple pages. You may be wondering how you can print different pages on your printer, as you can print different pages of a Word document.

If your worksheets each will fit on their own page (a single sheet), then the answer to the question is easy: all you need to do is select the worksheets you want to print before you actually print. For instance, if you want to print worksheets 4, 8, and 10, all you need to do is click on the first worksheet's tab (worksheet 4 in this scenario), then hold down the Ctrl key as you click on the second and third worksheet tabs (worksheets 8 and 10). When you print, only those three worksheets will be printed.

If you want to print specific pages out of a single worksheet that normally prints on multiple pages, then the answer is a bit more difficult. One solution is to temporarily hide the unwanted portions of the worksheet and then print the unhidden areas. An easier solution is as follows, however:

1. Choose Page Break Preview from the View menu. Excel displays your worksheet, showing the various page breaks.
2. Select all the cells in the first page you want printed.
3. As you hold down the Ctrl key, select all the cells in the second page you want printed.
4. Repeat step 3 for each page you want printed.
5. Choose Print from the File menu. Excel displays the Print dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Print dialog box.

6. In the Print What area, choose Selection.
7. Click on OK. Excel prints just the selected pages.
8. Close the Page Break Preview display.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2390) 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: Printing a Number of Different Pages.