How To Make Excel Spreadsheet Bigger When Printing

Sometimes, it is necessary to enlarge your Excel spreadsheet while printing to accommodate more data on a single or fewer pages.

This tutorial shows eight techniques for making an Excel spreadsheet bigger when printing.

Find Out How Many Pages Would Be Printed

Before making any adjustments to increase the size of your Excel spreadsheet when printing, we suggest determining the number of pages that would be printed using the current print settings.

Suppose you have the following dataset with seven columns and several rows:

You can find out how many pages would be printed using current print settings in the following two ways:

Way #1: Use Print Preview

You can print preview your Excel document using the steps below:

1. Click “File” on the Ribbon.

2. Click “Print” on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.

You will see the number of pages that will be printed on the page navigation control at the bottom of the Print preview page, as shown below:

To view a preview of what will appear on each page, use the right and left arrows on the page navigation control.

Way #2: Use Page Break Preview

You can apply the “Page Break Preview” command using the steps below:

1. On the “View” tab, click “Page Break Preview” on the “Workbook Views” group.

Page break lines will appear on the document indicating the number of pages that will be printed.

Note: Click the “Normal” button on the “Workbook Views” group to get out of the “Page Break View” back to the normal view.

After finding out the number of pages to be printed, there are several ways to increase the size of an Excel spreadsheet when printing to allow more data to fit onto a single or fewer pages.

Also read: How to Print Row Numbers in Excel?

Make Excel Spreadsheet Bigger When Printing

Let’s now look at some methods you can use to make the Excel spreadsheet bigger when printing so that it allows you to print more in one page (and save paper as well).

Method #1: Adjust the Page Size

If your Excel print settings default to a smaller paper size, such as A4, but your printer can support a larger size, like A3, you can adjust the settings accordingly using the steps below:

1. Click “File” on the Ribbon.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + P.”

2. Click “Print” on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.

3. Open the “Page Size” drop-down on the Print Preview window and choose a bigger page size. In this case, we have chosen “A3.”

You will observe on the Print Preview window that the Excel spreadsheet has been resized to accommodate the whole dataset on a single page for printing:

4. Click the “Print” button to send the work to the printer.

Alternatively, you can change the page size by clicking the “Page Layout” tab, opening the “Size” drop-down on the “Page Setup” group, and choosing a bigger page size.

Note: Many printers are capable of printing on standard paper sizes, including Letter (8.5″ x 11″), Legal (8.5″ x 14″), A4 (210mm x 297mm), and more.

To confirm which paper sizes your printer can handle, refer to the printer’s manual, review the printer’s control panel, or visit the manufacturer’s website.

Also read: How to Set a Row to Print on Every Page in Excel

Method #2: Change the Page Orientation from Portrait to Landscape

You can change the page orientation from portrait to landscape in print settings to make the Excel spreadsheet bigger when printing.

Note: In portrait orientation, the page is taller than it is wide, and in landscape orientation, it is wider than tall.

Let’s take a look at a dataset that has more columns than rows:

To determine the number of pages that will be printed, you can use the “Page Break Preview” command, which is explained in the section titled “Find Out the Number of Pages that Would be Printed” of this tutorial.

In this example, the process will show you that the document will be printed on two pages in portrait orientation by default.

You can change the page orientation in print settings to landscape to ensure that the entire dataset prints on one or fewer pages.

You can use the following steps:

1. Click “File” on the Ribbon.

Alternatively, press “Ctrl + P.”

2. Click “Print” on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.

3. On the Print preview page, open the page orientation drop-down and choose “Landscape Orientation.”

Once you view the Page preview window, you’ll notice that the entire dataset has been adjusted to fit on a single page for printing.

4. Click the “Print” button to send the document to the printer.

Alternatively, you can change the page orientation by clicking the “Page Layout” tab, opening the “Orientation” drop-down on the “Page Setup” group, and choosing “Landscape.”

Also read: How to Print Gridlines in Excel?

Method #3: Reduce the Column Width or Row Height

You can reduce the column width or row height to make the Excel spreadsheet bigger when printing so that you can print on one or fewer pages.

Suppose you have the following dataset that has three columns spilling over to the second page:

We can reduce the size of the columns so that the data fits on one page when printed.

We use the following steps:

1. On the “View” tab, click the “Page Layout” button on the “Workbook Views” group.

You will be able to see how your printed document will look like:

2. Hover over the column header dividers (one at a time) till you see the double-headed arrow as shown below:

Note: To decrease the height of a row, hover over the divider in the row header until you see a double-headed arrow. Then, click and drag upwards.

3. Press and hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to the left to reduce the column width. Repeat this process for each column.
4. Once the data fits the number of pages you want, click the “Normal” button on the “Workbook Views” group to return to the normal view.
5. Press “Ctrl + P” to print the document.

How to Enable Wrap Text in Excel

When you reduce the width of columns, some data may be cut off in cells. You can enable wrap text in those cells to make all the data visible using the below steps:

1. Select the cell or cells to which you want to apply text wrapping. You can select multiple cells by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on the cells.

2. Right-click the selected cell(s), and choose “Format Cells” on the context menu.

3. On the “Format Cells” dialog box that appears, open the “Alignment” tab, select the “Wrap text” option on the “Text control” section, and click “OK.”

Now, any text in the selected cell(s) that exceeds the cell’s width will automatically wrap to the following line, making it visible without resizing the cell, as shown below:

Also read: How to Print Multiple Tabs/Sheets in Excel

Method #4: Adjust the Scaling

Excel has scaling options that you can apply to shrink the printout to fit on one page, one page wide, or one page high.

Imagine that you have a dataset with three columns that extend onto the second page:

We can apply the scaling options on the Print preview page to make the dataset fit onto one page.

You can use the steps below:

1. Click “File” on the Ribbon.

Alternatively, press “Ctrl + P.”

2. Click “Print” on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.

3. On the Print preview page, open the scaling drop-down and choose “Fit Sheet on One Page,” “Fit All Columns on One Page,” or “Fit All Rows on One Page.”

Note: If you have only a few overflow rows or columns, the ‘Fit Sheet on One Page’ option would be appropriate. However, if numerous rows or columns are spilling over, using this option could make the printed data too small to read.

In this example, we have chosen “Fit All Columns on One Page,” and the result is shown below:

4. Click “Print” to send the document to the printer.

Note: The scaling options will not affect the data in the worksheet. They are only meant to scale the data for printing purposes.

Also read: How to Print Comments in Excel?

Method #5: Hide Columns

When printing, you can hide some columns to make the Excel spreadsheet bigger so that your data can print on one or fewer pages.

Imagine a dataset with three columns that continue onto the second page.

To ensure the dataset fits within one or fewer pages when printed, you can hide the same number of columns that spill over to other pages or even more. In this case, we want to hide three columns.

We use the steps below:

1. On the “View” tab, click the “Page Layout” button on the “Workbook Views” group.

You will be able to preview how your printed document will appear:

2. Right-click the column headers (one at a time) of the columns you want to hide and choose hide from the context menu.

In this example, we have hidden columns H, I, and J, and the data now fits on one page, as shown below:

3. Click the “Normal” button on the “Workbook Views” group to return to normal view.
4. Press “Ctrl + P” to open the Print preview window and click “Print” to print the document.

How to Unhide Columns in Excel

After hiding columns to fit data on fewer pages when printing, you can unhide them using the below steps:

1. Select the columns on either side of the hidden columns. In our example dataset, columns H, I, and J are hidden. Therefore we select columns G and K, as shown below:

2. Right-click the selected columns and select “Unhide” on the context menu that appears.

This action will unhide any hidden columns within the selected range, as shown below:

Also read: How to Fit to Page in Excel (Print on One Sheet)

Method #6: Adjust the Page Margins

If you have only a few columns spilling over to an extra page, you can reduce the page margins so that all the data prints on one page.

Imagine a dataset with three columns that continue onto the second page.

You can reduce the page margins so that the entire dataset can print on one page using the steps below:

1. Click “File” on the Ribbon.

Alternatively, press “Ctrl + P.”

2. Click “Print” on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.

3. On the Print preview page, open the margins drop-down and choose “Narrow.”

You may notice additional columns or rows appearing on the page.

Alternatively, you can reduce the page margins by clicking the “Page Layout” tab, opening the “Margins” drop-down, and selecting “Narrow.”

If dissatisfied with the results, click the “Custom Margins” option to open the “Page Setup” dialog box.

You can then adjust the page margins to your preference on the “Page Setup” dialog box that appears.

Also read: How to Change Page Orientation in Excel (for Printing)

Method #7: Decrease the Font Size

You can decrease the font size to make your dataset fit on one or fewer pages.

Imagine a dataset with three columns that continue onto the second page.

You can decrease the font size of the dataset to make it print on one or fewer pages.

To reduce the font size in the dataset, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the entire dataset.

2. On the “Home” tab, open the “Font Size” drop-down on the “Font” group and choose a smaller font size on the list that appears.

The font size of the selected cells will change accordingly.

Alternatively, manually type the desired font size value directly into the “Font Size” drop-down and press Enter to apply it.

Method #8: Only Print the Selected Data or Data on Print Area

Sometimes, you may have a large dataset but only want to print particular portions of it. You can achieve that using the steps below:

1. Select the part of the dataset that you want to print.
2. Click “File” on the Ribbon.

Alternatively, press “Ctrl + P.”

3. Click “Print” on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.

4. On the Print Preview page, open the Print drop-down and choose “Print Selection.”

The print preview will change to show only the portion that will be printed.

5. Click “Print” to send the document to the printer.

Note: If the selected dataset cannot fit on a single page, it will be printed on multiple pages. To reduce the number of pages, you can utilize the scaling options outlined in Method #4.

How to Set the Print Area in Excel

If you keep printing the same part of your dataset repeatedly, you can define a print area in Excel. This way, Excel will only print the data within the designated area and ignore the rest.

You can use the steps below to define the print area:

1. Select the portion of the dataset you want to define as the print area.
2. On the “Page Layout” tab, open the “Print Area” drop-down on the “Page Setup” group and choose “Set Print Area.”

Only the designated print area will be printed by Excel when you print the worksheet, while any other data will be disregarded.

In case you want to reset the print area, click the “Page Layout” tab, open the “Print Area” drop-down on the “Page Setup” group, and choose “Clear Print Area.”

How to Insert Page Breaks in Excel

Inserting page breaks in Excel allows you to control how the data is divided and printed across multiple pages.

To insert page breaks in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Position your cursor at the row or column where you want the page break to appear.
2. On the “Page Layout” tab, open the “Breaks” drop-down on the “Page Setup” group and choose “Insert Page Break.”

After inserting the page break, the data above or before the page break will be printed on one page and the rest on other pages.

Note: If you have both a print area defined and manual page breaks set, Excel will prioritize the print area, and the page breaks will adjust accordingly to fit the specified print area within the pages.

Also read: Remove Page Breaks in Excel

This tutorial showed eight techniques for making the Excel spreadsheet bigger when printing. We hope you found the tutorial helpful.

Other Excel articles you may also like:

• Autofit Column Width in Excel (Shortcut)
• Excel Autofit Row Height Not Working – How to Fix
• How to Resize Charts in Excel
• How to Make Cells Bigger in Excel