Page Setup and Printing

A screen full of empty columns wastes toner and confuses governors. Print area limits output to A1:K6 — the real budget table with =SUM(B2:E2) totals in column F.

James Okonkwo prints NorthgateBudget.xlsx for Dr. Helen Marsh before the budget meeting — landscape, school name in the header, one page wide.

On Budgets, click Page Layout on the Ribbon.

In the Page Setup group, click Orientation → Landscape — five departments plus total columns fit better sideways.

Margins → Normal (or Narrow if the preview still clips).

Optional: Scale to Fit → Width: 1 page — shrinks columns to fit one printed page wide.

Select A1:K6 (the formatted budget block only — not empty columns beyond).

Page Layout → Page Setup → Print Area → Set Print Area.

Expected result: Dotted lines on screen show what will print.

To clear later: Page Layout → Print Area → Clear Print Area.

Always Set Print Area to A1:K6 (or your real table) before File → Print. Without it, columns L through XFD print as blank pages — dozens of sheets of grid lines.

Page Layout → Page Setup dialog launcher (small arrow in the corner of the Page Setup group).

Open the Header/Footer tab. Click Custom Header. In Center section, type Northgate Academy — Department budget summary. Click OK twice.

If the budget table grows beyond one printed page:

Open Page Setup again (Page Layout dialog launcher). Sheet tab → Rows to repeat at top → click the icon and select $1:$1. Click OK.

Row 1 (Department, Q1 (£)…) prints on every page — James Okonkwo does not need to guess column letters on page 2.

File → Print (or Ctrl+P / Cmd+P). Check the preview — all columns visible, title readable.

Choose your printer or Microsoft Print to PDF to save a PDF for email. Click Print (or Save for PDF).

Example: File → Print → Microsoft Print to PDF saves Northgate-Budget-Summary.pdf without a physical printer — Dr. Helen Marsh opens it on a tablet at the meeting.

If columns split across pages, return to Page Layout and set Width: 1 page or hide unused columns before setting print area.

Page Break Preview on the View tab shows where pages split — drag blue lines to adjust before printing.