Forum Discussion
idarow
Mar 22, 2020Copper Contributor
Unable to remove print area from Excel worksheet
Have tried PAGE LAYOUT>PRINT AREA>CLEAR PRINT AREA to no avail Previous versions of Excel offered a REMOVE PRINT AREA tool but I couldn't find one in 365 Thank you
- Oct 22, 2021
I found a solution to this and posting in case it helps anyone. In my case, my page setup was set to 100% of actual size. Once I changed this to "Fit to 1 page" it allowed me to set a custom print area. I'm guessing if it's set to 100% it won't allow it to shrink to the area you are trying to print on a page.
Would be nice for Microsoft to change this setting automatically whey you try to set a custom print area instead of just not working.
idarow
Mar 23, 2020Copper Contributor
I do not have multiple sheets selected.
I tried your advice and selected the entire sheet as the print area, but I still had the dotted lines where Excel broke the sheet into printable pages.
Again, I was unable to clear this via the standard method.
What I finally did was COPY the entire sheet>
Opened a new sheet>
Selected the same range of cells as the original>
PASTE without formatting (WINDOWS KEY + V)
This did the trick. I suspect something was just messed up (or as computer people say, "corrupt") in that original sheet. In any case, I'm up and running.
Thank you all for your responses.
I tried your advice and selected the entire sheet as the print area, but I still had the dotted lines where Excel broke the sheet into printable pages.
Again, I was unable to clear this via the standard method.
What I finally did was COPY the entire sheet>
Opened a new sheet>
Selected the same range of cells as the original>
PASTE without formatting (WINDOWS KEY + V)
This did the trick. I suspect something was just messed up (or as computer people say, "corrupt") in that original sheet. In any case, I'm up and running.
Thank you all for your responses.
njdesign27
Oct 22, 2021Copper Contributor
I found a solution to this and posting in case it helps anyone. In my case, my page setup was set to 100% of actual size. Once I changed this to "Fit to 1 page" it allowed me to set a custom print area. I'm guessing if it's set to 100% it won't allow it to shrink to the area you are trying to print on a page.
Would be nice for Microsoft to change this setting automatically whey you try to set a custom print area instead of just not working.
- KmendesMar 04, 2024Copper Contributor
njdesign27 This helped! Clearing my print area wasn't working. Thank you!
- Lucy_LucydeBoxerMar 21, 2022Copper ContributorMy sheet was originally set to 90%, when I set it to fit to 1 page it initially appeared that the print area was cleared. Unfortunately, when I went back to set it at 90% the print areas were still there.
- MarkSGFNov 28, 2021Copper Contributor
njdesign27 I had the same situation where I was unable to clear the print area. Also tried to set a new print area and then clear that one. When I did, it reverted to the one I wanted to clear.
Changing the Scaling to "fit to 1" got rid of my problem. Still not sure where the problem is but it isn't bothering me now.
- ianstclair1Nov 10, 2021Copper Contributor
njdesign27 this fix recently helped me, since I believe we were in the same situation: My Page Setup area in the Page Layout section of the Ribbon did not work. I found that Excel can't set or get page setup properties if a printer is not specified. To prevent this problem from occurring, install a printer driver on your computer.
Once I selected a printer, I was able to manipulate the page layout. Thanks!