How to show print margins in excel

Print margins indicate how much white space Excel 2010 places between the worksheet data and the edge of the page. The Normal margin settings that Excel applies to a new workbook have top and bottom margins of 0.75 inches and left and right margins of 0.7 inches. You also can specify margins for the header and footer and center your worksheet horizontally or vertically on the page to improve the appearance of a printed report.

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About This Article
About the book author:
This article can be found in the category:
Set Margins in Excel: Overview
Set Margins in Excel: Instructions
Set Margins in Excel: Video Lesson
How do I make the margins visible in Excel?
How do I see Print margins?
How do I see Print boundaries on Excel?
How do you show margins in Excel 2019 print preview?

In addition to the Normal margin settings, Excel enables you to select two other standard margins from the Margins button's drop-down menu on the Page Layout tab of the Ribbon:

Wide margins with 1-inch top, bottom, left, and right margins and 0.5 inches separating the header and footer from the top and bottom margins.
Narrow margins with top and bottom margins of 0.75 inches, and left and right margins of 0.25 inches with 0.3 inches separating the header and footer from the top and bottom margins.
Excel 2010 provides a few margin presets on the Margins drop-down menu.

You also can manually adjust the margins of a report either from the Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box or by dragging the margin markers in the Print panel of Excel's Backstage view (press Ctrl+P and then click the Show Margins icon). To get more columns on a page, try reducing the left and right margins. To get more rows on a page, try reducing the top and bottom margins.

Follow these steps to adjust margins using the Page Setup dialog box:

On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click the Margins button and select the Custom Margins command from the drop-down menu.
You can also click the Page Setup dialog box launcher in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup group. The Page Setup dialog box appears.
Click the Margins tab.
Adjust your report margins from the Margins tab in the Page Setup dialog box.
Enter the new margin settings in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right text boxes.
You also can use the spin buttons to change the margin settings in small increments.
(Optional) Select one or both Center on Page check boxes to center the data between the current margin settings.
Click OK.

You can click the Print Preview button in the Page Setup dialog box at any time to see how the changes you make affect the preview of your report.

If you select the Show Margins icon near the bottom-right corner of the Print panel in Backstage view, you can modify the margins by dragging margin markers. When you release the mouse button, Excel redraws the page, using the new margin setting. (You can also adjust column widths like this.)

Drag a marker to adjust its margin in the Print panel when the Show Margins icon is selected.

About This Article

About the book author:

Greg Harvey, PhD, is president of Mind Over Media, Inc. He is the author of all editions of Excel For Dummies, Excel All-in-One For Dummies, Excel Workbook For Dummies, and Windows For Dummies Quick Reference. He's also an experienced educator.

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Set Margins in Excel: Overview

To set margins in Excel worksheets before printing, open the “Page Setup” dialog box. To open the “Page Setup” dialog box, click the “Page Layout” tab in the Ribbon. Then click the “Page Setup” dialog box button in the lower-right corner of the “Page Setup” button group. Then click the “Margins” tab within the “Page Setup” dialog box.

You can set the margins in Excel for your worksheet on the “Margins” tab. Use the spinner arrows at the right of each margin’s text box to set the “Top,” “Right,” “Bottom,” and “Left” margins’ widths, in inches. You can also set how far in from the top or bottom edge the header and footer data prints. To do this, enter the desired value into the “Header:” and “Footer:” text boxes.

Set Margins in Excel – Instructions: A picture of the “Margins” tab within the “Page Setup” dialog box in Excel.

You can also check the checkboxes under the “Center on page” section to center the worksheet data on the page. To center it horizontally, check the “Horizontally” checkbox. To center it vertically, check the “Vertically” checkbox. After you set margins in Excel and make the other changes you want to apply, click the “OK” button.

Set Margins in Excel: Instructions

To set margins in Excel worksheets before printing, click the “Page Layout” tab in the Ribbon.
Then click the “Page Setup” dialog box button in the lower-right corner of the “Page Setup” button group.
Then click the “Margins” tab within the “Page Setup” dialog box.
Use the spinner arrows at the right of each margin’s text box to set the “Top,” “Right,” “Bottom,” and “Left” margins’ widths, in inches.
To set how far in from the top or bottom edge of the page the header and footer data prints, enter the desired value into the “Header:” and “Footer:” text boxes.
To center the worksheet data on the printed page, check the “Horizontally” and/or “Vertically” checkboxes under the “Center on page” section.
After you set margins in Excel and make the other changes you want to apply, click the “OK” button.

Set Margins in Excel: Video Lesson

The following video lesson, titled “Setting Margins,” shows how to set margins in Excel worksheets. This video lesson is from our complete Excel tutorial, titled “Mastering Excel Made Easy v.2019 and 365.”

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How do I make the margins visible in Excel?

Fortunately, this is a simple setting:.

Click on File > Options..

On the general tab, locate the "When creating new workbooks" section - this should be the second section down..

Locate "Default view for new sheets" and select "Page Layout View".

Click OK..

How do I see Print margins?

Tip: To preview the new margins, click File > Print. To adjust the margins in Print Preview, select the Show Margins box in the lower right corner of the preview window, and then drag the black margin handles on either side or at the top or bottom of the page.

How do I see Print boundaries on Excel?

To see all the print areas to make sure they're the ones you want, click View > Page Break Preview in the Workbook Views group. When you save your workbook, the print area is saved too.

How do you show margins in Excel 2019 print preview?

To view page margins, click the Show Margins button in the lower right corner of the Print Preview window. To change margins, drag the margins to the height and width that you prefer. You can also change the column widths by dragging the handles at the top or bottom of the print preview page.