Page Layout Format Automatically Copies to Other Worksheets After Grouping Worksheets

[timothyswatson]

How do I stop page layout format of one worksheet from automatically being applied to others after I group them?  For example, if I put a custom footer page number 2 on the first worksheet and then put a custom footer page number 3 on the second sheet, when I group the two worksheets the page number will either be 2 or 3 for both worksheets depending on the worksheet that I was on prior to grouping them.  Additionally, all other formatting such as page orientation, page size, custom header, and etc also is being automatically applied to all of the grouped worksheets.

This problem just appeared this week.

[#2]

@timothyswatson 

By default, when you group worksheets in Excel, any changes you make to the page layout settings, including headers, footers, page numbers, page orientation, and page size, will be applied to all the grouped worksheets. This behavior is intended to make it easier to maintain consistent formatting across multiple sheets.

If you want to prevent the page layout format from being automatically applied to other worksheets after grouping them, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the worksheets you want to group. To select multiple worksheets, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each sheet tab.
2. Right-click on any of the selected sheet tabs and choose "Ungroup Sheets" from the context menu. This will ungroup the worksheets.
3. Make the desired changes to the page layout settings on one of the worksheets.
4. After making the changes, select only the worksheet that has the desired page layout format (without selecting any other sheets).
5. Right-click on the selected sheet tab and choose "Group Sheets" from the context menu. This will group only the selected sheet.

By following these steps, the page layout format applied to the initially selected worksheet will not be automatically applied to other worksheets after grouping them.

Please note that if you make further changes to the page layout settings while the worksheets are grouped, those changes will still be applied to all the grouped sheets. To modify the page layout format on specific worksheets without affecting the others, you'll need to ungroup the sheets, make the changes, and then group them again as needed.

[#3]

Thank you for your response, however, I am aware of all of these steps and successfully performed them for years until this past week. Something has changed in the functionality of Excel, not only for me but for others as well. The problem is that the formatting is being automatically changed upon grouping the worksheets. I am not making any changes to the worksheets while they are grouped. The formatting of the worksheet that I am on when grouping them is being automatically applied to the others. Even if I group the other worksheets first then add a worksheet, the formatting gets applied to the worksheet added last based on the one that is visible when the group is created. As a result, I cannot print a group of worksheets in which any of the worksheets has a different formatting than the others. I also can't change the start number of a group of worksheets that have page numbering.

[#4]

@timothyswatson 

As a last try, I can make some additional general suggestions that may help to solve or mitigate the problem:

Disable automatic formatting propagation: By default, Excel applies formatting changes to all selected worksheets when grouped. You can try disabling this feature to prevent formatting from being automatically applied to other worksheets. To do this, go to the "File" menu, click on "Options," then navigate to the "Advanced" tab. Look for the section called "When calculating this workbook" and uncheck the option "Allow editing directly in cells." This might prevent unwanted formatting changes when grouping worksheets.

Protect individual worksheets: Consider protecting the formatting of each worksheet individually before grouping them. To protect a worksheet, right-click on the sheet tab, choose "Protect Sheet," and make sure to uncheck the "Format cells" option. This way, even if you inadvertently change the formatting while working on a grouped set of worksheets, it won't affect the protected ones.

Use page setup options: Instead of relying on default formatting changes, you can set up the desired page formatting for each worksheet individually through the Page Setup options. This allows you to have different page numbering and other settings for each worksheet within a group.

Utilize custom views: Excel provides a feature called "Custom Views" that allows you to save different settings for different worksheets, including formatting. You can create custom views for each worksheet, specifying the desired formatting. Then, when you switch between worksheets or print them, you can easily apply the respective custom view to ensure the correct formatting is maintained.

Consider VBA macros: If the above options do not provide a satisfactory solution, you may need to utilize Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros to automate the formatting process. VBA allows for more fine-grained control over Excel's functionalities, including formatting, and can help you achieve the desired results. However, VBA programming knowledge is required to implement this solution.

Note that without more specific information about your version of Excel and the steps you have taken, it is difficult to provide an exact solution. It is therefore not possible to research whether the possibility in the existing version/update is possible. Since I am also a simple user, I have no information whether it is a bug in. Anyway, I'm at my wits end here, so I can't help either. Thank you for your time and patience.