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: Centering Your Worksheet.

Centering Your Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 24, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you are working with smaller worksheets, they can look odd when printed. Why? Because Excel normally prints your worksheet data at the upper-left corner of a piece of paper. If the worksheet data is small enough, the placement of the data on the printed sheet can detract from what you are trying to convey.

To help offset this problem, Excel provides a way you can easily center your printed information. You can center the data horizontally, vertically, or both. Follow these steps:

  1. Choose Page Setup from the File menu. Excel displays the Page Setup dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Margins tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  3. Select the Horizontally check box if you want the information centered left-to-right between the margins of the page.
  4. Select the Vertically check box if you want the information centered top-to-bottom between the margins of the page.
  5. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2843) 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: Centering Your Worksheet.

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

Removing Spaces

Need to get rid of spaces in a range of cells? There are two ways you can approach the task, as described here.

Discover More

Ctrl+Break Won't Work to Stop a Macro

When you need to stop a macro while it is running, you normally press Ctrl+Break. What are you to do if the keypress ...

Discover More

Repeating Columns at the Right

You can design your worksheet so you can repeat rows at the top of a printout or columns at the left. Repeating columns ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Printing Multiple Worksheet Ranges

Need to print more than one portion of your worksheet? If you use named ranges for the different ranges you want to ...

Discover More

Printing Multiple Selections

Need to print several portions of a worksheet all on a single piece of paper? Here's an easy way you can get what you ...

Discover More

Multiple Print Areas on a Single Printed Page

Want to print small, non-contiguous areas of your worksheet all on a single page? You might think that defining a ...

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?

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 menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon 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.