How To Set Print Area In Google Sheets
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When you’re working on complex spreadsheets with a lot of data, sometimes you need to print only a portion of the sheet.
Sometimes this will happen to save paper or make it easier to find the information you need in the print out, or sometimes it will be for security reasons.
But whatever the reason, it’s important to know how to quickly set the print area in Google Sheets to avoid the painstaking process of copying your spreadsheet and deleting the data you don’t want to print.
Google Sheets Print Areas
Unlike some other applications, Google Sheets does not allow you to save print areas in order to print the same range repeatedly.
However, you can quickly set the print area each time you print your spreadsheet.
To set the print area in your spreadsheet before printing, follow these steps:
Step 1
In your spreadsheet, select the range you want to print, then click on the printer icon in the toolbar to open the print settings:
Step 2
The print settings will open, showing a view of your document with a settings panel beside it.
To set the print range to your selected range, click on the “Print” dropdown that says Current Sheet and choose Selected Cells:
Step 3
Adjust other print settings as need and click print to print just the selected range
Use Named Ranges As Print Areas
Sometimes it’s not easy to reselect the print area each time you want to print a spreadsheet.
For example, if there are a lot of rows in the print area, or if you have to scroll in order to get to the print area. In these cases, you can use named ranges to speed up the process.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1
First select the range you want to print, open the Data menu and select Named Ranges
Step 2
In the sidebar that appears, type in a name for the range. A good choice would be PRINT_RANGE so you can easily find it later.
Click Done to save the range.
Step 3
The next time you want to print your spreadsheet, first open the named ranges sidebar then click on the PRINT_RANGE named range to highlight all the cells in the range.
Note that if you have many named ranges in your spreadsheet you may have to scroll down to find it.
Step 4
Continue printing by clicking on the printer icon in the toolbar and following the steps outlined above
If you use this method, be sure to update the PRINT_RANGE any time the layout of your spreadsheet changes.
You can also create separate print ranges for each sheet in your spreadsheet. Just be sure to name them clearly so you can find them later.
Summary
Example Spreadsheet: Make a copy of the example spreadsheet
In this tutorial, I covered how to set a print area in Google Sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.