4 Easy Methods to Set the Print Area in Google Sheets

Setting the print area in Google Sheets is crucial for a smooth transfer of spreadsheet information in an office setting. A poorly configured print area can result in misplaced page breaks and wasted paper. If you’re used to working with Microsoft Excel, you may find Google Sheets’ approach to setting the print area a bit confusing. In Excel, you define a permanent print area under the layout menu before printing, while Google Sheets manages the print area each time you print.

How to Set the Print Area in Google Sheets for a Range of Cells

If you want to set print areas in Google Sheets, it’s probably because you want to avoid using an excessive amount of paper to display a reduced selection of information. Here are the steps to set the print area in Sheets:

1. Select the range of cells you want to print. For example, you can select the first 10 rows and the header row for a range of A1:F11. This selection will define the print area.

2. Next, open the “Print settings” menu. You can do this by clicking on the “File” menu, then the “Print” option (first image), clicking on the printer icon in the submenu (second image), or using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P” (“CMD+P” on Mac).

3. Select the “Current sheet” option from the “Print settings” menu.

4. Choose the “Selected cells” option. The print preview window will show the selected range instead of the entire sheet.

5. Verify the preview to ensure you have selected the correct range. Here’s what the preview looks like in the example:

6. Click “Next” and use the print management program of your operating system to send it to the printer. Typically, you just need to select the desired printer and click the “Print” button, but you may need to modify settings such as color options.

After following these steps, you will quickly obtain a physical printed copy of your spreadsheet. You can also add and print labels on your Google Sheets.

You can also print by using the print icon in the toolbar or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P.

How to Set the Print Area to Print the Entire Workbook

If you have multiple sheets in your workbook or want to print the entire spreadsheet, you can set the print area for the workbook in Sheets. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to “File” > “Print”. You can also click on the printer icon in the submenu (second image), or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P” (“CMD+P” on Mac).

2. Click on the “Print settings” option, which indicates “Current sheet”.

3. Choose the “Workbook” option. The print preview window will display the entire workbook instead of the previous selection.

4. In the dropdown list of the section, you can choose the sheets you want to print.

5. Verify the preview to ensure you have selected the correct sheets. Here’s what the preview looks like in the example:

6. Click “Next” and select the desired printer.

7. Click the “Print” button, but you may need to modify settings such as color options.

How to Set the Print Area to Print the Entire Worksheet

If you want to set the print area to include the entire worksheet, this is actually less complex. Follow these steps to print the entire sheet:

1. Open the “Print settings” by selecting “File” then “Print,” clicking on the printer icon, or using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P” or “CMD+P”. The example shows the printer icon.

2. Check the “Print” option. If it indicates “Current sheet,” leave it as is, as that’s the default setting. Otherwise, click on it and select “Current sheet”. You can see if the selected sheet is correct in the print settings window.

3. Click “Next” and use the print management program of your operating system to send it to the printer.

How to Use Named Ranges as Print Areas

In cases where you have a large range of data, it can be tedious to select the entire range. Instead, you can use named ranges as print areas. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to “Data” > “Named ranges”.

2. Click on “Add a range” in the named ranges window.

3. Give a name to your range and enter the data range you want to print. Make sure to use a hyphen, underscore, or no space between words, or you will get a message saying “The specified range name is invalid”.

4. Click “Done”, and you now have a named range. You can add as many named ranges as you like.

Now, you no longer need to select the range you want to print. Just click on the named range, which will automatically select the specified data range, and then go to “Print”.

How to Adjust Print Settings in Google Sheets

When you select “Print,” you access the print settings window. On this page, you can modify different settings such as page size, orientation, scale, etc.

The print options you can adjust include:

• Print – allows you to set the print area in Google Sheets. You can choose to print the entire sheet or only the selected cells.

• Paper size – allows you to choose the paper size you want to print on. You can also add custom dimensions.

• Page orientation – allows you to adjust the print layout or the direction in which the sheet is oriented. It does not affect the content of the sheet or document.

• Scale – allows you to adjust the print size or how the content fits on the sheet. This can be useful to prevent Google Sheets from printing too small.

• Margins – allows you to change the margin size. There are predefined options as well as an option to add custom values.

• Formatting – this option allows you to show or hide gridlines and notes. It also has alignment options that allow you to adjust the position of the content on the sheet, vertically or horizontally.

• Headers and footers – this allows you to adjust the settings for headers and footers, such as displaying or removing dates, titles, page numbers, and fixing row or column headers.

The print preview of the Google Sheets will constantly update with the changes you make, allowing you to see and track your adjustments.

How to Print Header Rows on Every Page

You can set up Google Sheets to print header rows on every page to provide context for cell values. In many cases, it’s easy to know what you’re looking at, but having headers on every page is generally a better experience, especially if you’re going to be reviewing the individual pages.

• Click on the “View” menu and select the “Freeze” option. Then choose the dimensions of your header from the list of options. In most cases, you’ll be using “1 row”.

The printed spreadsheet will now have the header row frozen above the data on every page.

How to Adjust Scale and Margins to Fit

Your work isn’t always finished after setting the print area. Sometimes, Google Sheets uses a print setting within the predefined range that results in an unsatisfactory outcome on paper. If the preview image creates page breaks at undesirable locations, you can use the “Scale” and “Margins” settings to refine the appearance of your printed range on the page.

Scale settings:

• Normal: This is the default setting and suitable for most use cases.
• Fit to height: This compresses cells to fit all rows on a single page. It’s useful for printing data with many columns but few rows.
• Fit to width: This setting compresses cells to fit all columns on a single page. It’s useful for printing data with many rows but few columns.
• Fit to page: This setting adjusts the entire selected range onto a single page. It’s useful for smaller data ranges.

Margins:

• Normal: This is the default setting and suitable for most use cases.
• Narrow: This setting uses more paper space on each page. It allows for fewer printed pages with more data on each page.
• Wide: This setting creates more white space around the data on each page. It may display fewer columns and rows on each page.

Note: You can also toggle between landscape and portrait orientation to better fit your selected data.

How to Set Custom Page Breaks in Google Sheets

Google Sheets allows you to set page breaks on a page-by-page basis. This can be very useful for data management. For example, you might want to display 20 rows of data per page from a spreadsheet with 100 rows, but Sheets defaults to displaying 23 rows per page. You can adjust Sheets to use page breaks that make more sense.

1. From the “Print settings” screen, select “Set custom page breaks”.

2. Drag the dotted line rows to set the locations where you want the pages to start and end.

3. The example shows moving the page break from row 32 to row 21.

4. Click “Confirm page breaks” to save your selection.

Your printed version will now have specifically defined print areas page by page.

These methods have shown you how to set the print area in Google Sheets and manage common configuration options.

How to Print a Google Sheets from the Mobile App

It is also possible to print from your Android or iPhone using the Google Sheets app. This process is slightly different from printing on the web browser version.

Here’s how to print Google Sheets documents from the mobile app:

1. Open your app and long-press the sheet you want to print.

2. A menu will appear. Go to “Print”.
   
   You can also access the print option inside the open spreadsheet by tapping on the three-dot menu icon, then “Share & export”.

3. On the print page, you can modify the paper size and the number of copies you want. Tap on “Select printer” to choose the device you want to print with.

4. Your phone will search for online printers near you.

5. Select the printer, then tap “Print”.

Conclusion

This article has shown you how to set the print area in Google Sheets. This feature is an example of how it operates differently compared to other popular spreadsheet programs.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! If you did, be sure to check out our comprehensive training on Google Sheets and Google Forms to learn as much as you can quickly.

You can read more about the best printers to use.

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