How to Adjust Page Size and Scale in Excel
If you plan to print a worksheet on paper that isn’t letter size, you’ll need to select a different paper size in Excel. You can choose to adjust the scale of your printed worksheet so that the printed data stretches or shrinks to fit the number of pages you specify.
Change Page Size
Most people normally print on standard letter-sized (8.5” x 11”) paper, but Excel can print on many other paper sizes.
- Click the Page Layout tab.
- Click the Size button.
- Select a page size.
If you don’t see the paper size you need, select More Paper Sizes.
Change Print Scale
If you have a data range that’s too wide or tall for a page, scale it to ensure it fits correctly.
- Click the Page Layout tab.
- Click the Scale to Fit dialog box launcher.
The Scaling section has two options you can choose from to adjust the worksheet’s scale for printing:
- Adjust to: Enter a percentage or use the arrow buttons to stretch or shrink the printed output to a percentage of its actual size.
- Fit to: Specify the number of pages wide and tall you want the printed data to occupy. Excel will either shrink the data to fit on fewer pages or expand it to fill additional pages.
- Specify the scaling options you want to use.
- Click
OK.
FREE Quick Reference
Click to Download
Free to distribute with our compliments; we hope you will consider our paid training.
Instructor: Karen Sorensen Show bio Karen has a Bachelors in Communications. She has 25 years of experience in Information Systems, Adult Learning and Virtual Training. Scaling is used in the Microsoft Excel programming language to enlarge or shrink and resize pages, which is very useful in making data visualizable for printing. Learn how to use print settings, the page layout, and how to scale in different ways in Excel. Updated: 10/27/2021 When you think of scaling to fit, especially when using MS Excel, the first thing that comes to mind is to shrink the content so it fits on one piece of paper. However, scaling means to shrink or enlarge. For instance, you can shrink the content to fit, making it smaller, or you can scale the content in order to magnify the content, making it bigger and
easier to read. I have to admit, sometimes printing from Excel can get frustrating. You either end up with one row or column leaking onto a second page, or you get it to fit on one page and the data is too small to read. But understanding all options available when using the feature in Excel can make things a bit easier. There are two ways to access the Scale to Fit options. You can modify the settings under the Page Layout menu in the ribbon or access the options by going to the
Print Settings. This lesson will review the scaling feature, explain the different options you have and guide you through the steps to using the tool. One way to adjust the scaling for print is to go to the File menu in the ribbon and click on the Print command. There are several options for your print settings, but if you go to the bottom of the list, you will see the Scale to Fit option. By default, Excel sets the option to 'No Scaling.' Click on the more icon (upside-down triangle) to expand the drop-down menu. Notice we have four more options: Imagine we have a spreadsheet that contains a list of information detailing company employees. Before we can go selecting different options for scaling our printout, we need to consider how we want the finished printed page to look. The first response for most people is to select 'Fit on One Page.' But if we take a look at our spreadsheet, we have over 100 rows of data (see this
on the video beginning at 02:09). If we shrink the entire spreadsheet to fit on one page, the information will be too small to read. The print orientation has been set to landscape and currently, the print preview shows eight pages. However, the last four pages display only the last two columns of our spreadsheet. What we need to do is get those two last pesky columns to display on the first four pages. This would allow us to cut the pages to print in half - from eight to four. It would
also help us create a more organized look and make it easier for the reader to view the information. We can make this happen by using the Scale to Fit feature. Of the four options we have to choose from, 'Fit All Columns on One Page' will be perfect. Let's review step by step. To the right of the print
settings is the Print Preview. Notice that the page numbers went from eight to four. If you use the next button to page through, you can see that each page includes all of the columns (please see the video beginning at 03:19 to see the two actions noted above). Sometimes, it is easy to select the first option, which is to 'Fit on One Page.' In our example, if we would have chosen that option, the content would have been so tiny, it would have been impossible to read the printout. Keep
something in mind. When we make changes using the scaling options, we are modifying only the print layout. Changing the options in the Scale to Fit tools does not affect the standard spreadsheet view on the screen. Scale to Fit Print Options
Using the Print Settings
Register to view this lesson
Are you a student or a teacher?
Unlock Your Education
See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com
Become a Study.com member and start learning now.Become a Member
Already a member? Log In
Back
Resources created by teachers for teachers
Over 30,000 video lessons & teaching resources‐all in one place.
Video lessons
Quizzes & Worksheets
Classroom Integration
Lesson Plans
I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.
Back
Create an account to start this course today
Used by over 30 million students worldwide
Create an account