Page Numbers in VBA

Steve is looking for a way to determine, in a VBA macro, the number of pages that a worksheet will have, when printed, and the page number on which a particular cell will print. This task is not quite as easy as one would hope, but it can be done.

It seems that the best way to handle this is to use an outmoded (but still available) Excel 4 function to determine the number of total printed pages in a worksheet. Then you can use the HPageBreaks and VPageBreaks collections to figure out where the cell falls in the matrix of pages that will be printed. The following is an example of a macro that utilizes these items:

Sub PageInfo()
    Dim iPages As Integer
    Dim iCol As Integer
    Dim iCols As Integer
    Dim lRows As Long
    Dim lRow As Long
    Dim x As Long
    Dim y As Long
    Dim iPage As Integer

    iPages = ExecuteExcel4Macro("Get.Document(50)")

    With ActiveSheet
        y = ActiveCell.Column
        iCols = .VPageBreaks.Count
        x = 0
        Do
            x = x + 1
        Loop Until x = iCols _
          Or y < .VPageBreaks(x).Location.Column
        iCol = x
        If y >= .VPageBreaks(x).Location.Column Then
            iCol = iCol + 1
        End If

        y = ActiveCell.Row
        lRows = .HPageBreaks.Count
        x = 0
        Do
            x = x + 1
        Loop Until x = lRows _
          Or y < .HPageBreaks(x).Location.Row
        lRow = x
        If y >= .HPageBreaks(x).Location.Row Then
            lRow = lRow + 1
        End If

        If .PageSetup.Order = xlDownThenOver Then
            iPage = (iCol - 1) * (lRows + 1) + lRow
        Else
            iPage = (lRow - 1) * (iCols + 1) + iCol
        End If
    End With
    MsgBox "Cell " & ActiveCell.Address & _
      " is on " & vbCrLf & "Page " & _
      iPage & " of " & iPages & " pages"
End Sub

One thing that you should keep in mind with this macro is that the HPageBreaks and VPageBreaks collections are only considered accurate if you are viewing the worksheet in Page Break Preview (View | Page Break Preview). Thus, you'll want to make sure that you are in that mode before selecting a cell and running the macro.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3135) 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: Page Numbers in VBA.