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: Controlling Display of Page Breaks.

Controlling Display of Page Breaks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 9, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

There are two types of page breaks that can appear in an Excel worksheet: manual or automatic. You insert page breaks manually by using the Page Break option from the Insert menu. Automatic page breaks are those that are calculated by Excel based on various settings, such as page size, margins, cell size, and the like.

Excel allows you to control whether page breaks are displayed on-screen (as dashed lines) by following these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the View tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  3. Set the Page Breaks check box as desired. If selected, then Excel displays page breaks on-screen.
  4. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3008) 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: Controlling Display of Page Breaks.

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

Jumping to the End of Page after Enter

Imagine you start typing in a new document, and when you press the Enter key the cursor jumps a huge distance to the ...

Discover More

Making AutoComplete Work for an Entire Column

AutoComplete is a great feature for quickly adding data to a worksheet. If you are confused by why some things are picked ...

Discover More

Getting Notification a Recalculation is Necessary

Want to be notified whenever your worksheet needs to be recalculated? Excel may already have you covered, as described in ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Editing the Custom Spelling Dictionaries

Excel provides spell-checking capabilities on the text you enter in a worksheet. It utilizes the same dictionaries and ...

Discover More

Slowing Down Mouse Selection

Ever tried to select a range of cells using the mouse, only to have the cells scroll by so quickly you can't make the ...

Discover More

Getting Audible Feedback

Want to get a little bit of sound with your data? Excel can provide audible feedback that you may find helpful. Here's how.

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.