What is the Print Area in Excel?

Print area in excel is the area which we want to be printed instead of the whole workbook or the worksheet, we can set up a print area from the page out tab, also we can have multiple print area in one worksheet by simply pressing control key while selecting the print area, when we check the print preview we will find that on the data in the print area will be printed rather than the whole worksheet.

In excel print area means designated cell selected which are frequently printed. For example in the data we want only specific data to be printed we can select those specific cells as the print area.

How to Set & Change Print Area in Excel?

Below are the examples to Print Area in Excel.

Example #1

Go to the page layout tab. In the Page Layout tab click on a print area under the page setup section.

Select the cells which need to be printed. In the print Area, click on Set Print Area.

Now press CTRL + P for print option and a dialog box appears.

We can see that instead of the whole worksheet being printed only the specific cells chosen are being displayed in the print preview section in excel.

If we want to print any different cells we can clear the print area by clicking on the Print area and selecting a clear print area.

Example #2

We have data for a bill of the restaurant but we want only the bill to be printed rather than the full worksheet. Have a look at the data below.

We want only the bill to be printed but not the price list.

Popular Course in this category

All in One Excel VBA Bundle (35 Courses with Projects)4.9 (1,353 ratings) 35+ Courses | 120+ Hours | Full Lifetime Access | Certificate of Completion

View Course

Select the range of the cells which needs to be printed. In the page layout tab under the page setup section click on the print area then, click on Set Print area.

Now to check the data we selected is being printed press CTRL + P and see the print preview to check.

We can see that we are only printing the bill but not the price list.

Example #3

In a company, the performance of an employee is calculated by certain weight and they are given a print out for their report on their annual performance. HR however do not want to include the weight part in the report. Have a look below at the data.

Select the data which needs to be printed. In the page layout tab under the page setup section click on the print area then, click on Set Print Area.

Now to check the data we selected is being printed press excel shortcut CTRL + P and see the print preview to check.

We can see that we are printing the performance card but not the weight part.

Example #4

We take the same data as from the example 3 and suppose that HR now wants to include the weight part also in the report card.

We repeat the same process:

Select the data which needs to be printed. In the page layout tab under the page setup section click on the print area and then, click on Add to Print area.

Now to check the data we selected is being printed press CTRL + P and see the print preview to check.

We can see that we are now printing all the data.

Explanation

As we already what Print Area means which is a specifically designated area which is selected to be printed. And any area which is more frequently to be printed is selected is called Print Area.

In excel a print area means designated cell selected which are frequently printed. For example in the data we want only specific data to be printed we can select those specific cells as the print area.

Things to Remember

A worksheet can have multiple print areas.
Each print area will print as a different print page.

Print Area in Excel