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: Collating Copies.

Collating Copies

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 1, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


If you work where there is a good size copy machine, you already know what it means to collate something. With a copier, it means the pages you are copying are placed in complete sets which can be used right away. It is the same in Excel. If you have a worksheet that occupies five pages, and you are printing multiple copies, you can either print them collated or uncollated. When they are collated, they are in page 1–5 order for each of the five sets. If they are not collated, five copies of the first page are printed, then five of the second, and so on.

To control collating, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Print from the File menu. Excel displays the Print dialog box. (You can also just press Ctrl+P.) (See Figure 1.)
  2. Figure 1. The Print dialog box.

  3. Specify the number of copies you wish to print.
  4. Click on the Collate Copies check box. A check mark in the box indicates the copies will be collated.
  5. Click on OK. Your worksheet is printed.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3237) 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: Collating Copies.

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

Converting to Automatic Endnotes

When you add endnotes to a document, they are automatically maintained and renumbered by Word, as necessary. If you get a ...

Discover More

Determining the Current Directory

When you use a macro to do file operations, it works (by default) within the current directory. If you want to know which ...

Discover More

Turning Off the Automatic Help that Word Offers

Word has a lot of tools that are invoked automatically based on what you are doing in the program. If these tools ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Printing Workbook Properties

Want to create a printed record of the properties associated with a workbook? There is no easy way to do it in Excel. ...

Discover More

Using Multiple Print Settings

Do you have a worksheet from which you need to print only portions of the data available? There are two ways you can ...

Discover More

Automatically Printing a Range

If you want to automatically print a particular area of your worksheet at a specific time of day, you'll love this tip. ...

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.

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 seven less than 7?

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.