Changing the Orientation and Paper Size

The Page tab in the Page Setup dialog box is where you can change the page orientation and paper size. The two choices for page orientation are Portrait (vertical), which is the default, or Landscape (horizontal).

As for the paper size options, the default paper size is Letter (8.5 x 11), but you can choose Legal (8.5 x 14); Executive (7.25 x 10.5); A4, A5, and B5 (European sizes); envelopes; index cards; or a customized paper size.

In the next exercise, you experiment with changing the orientation and paper size. You should be working with the My Budget workbook.

To Do: Select the Orientation and Paper Size

1. Click the File menu and choose Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box opens. You should see four tabs: Page, Margins, Header/Footer, and Sheet (see Figure 7.3).

   Figure 7.3. The Page Setup dialog box.

   

2. On the Page tab, change the orientation to landscape. In the Orientation area, click the Landscape option button.

3. Print the worksheet from the Page Setup dialog box. Click the Print button. The Print dialog box appears.

4. In the Print dialog box, click OK to print the worksheet. You should get a printout in landscape orientation on your 8.5 x 11-inch paper.

Changing the Page Margins

Margins are the empty spaces around the four edges of a page. Setting margins in Excel is very easy to do on the Margins tab in the Page Setup dialog box. You can change the margins before, during, or after you enter data in a worksheet.

Excel presets the top and bottom margins at 1 " and the left and right margins at 0.75. " You can adjust the margins for the top, bottom, left, and right sides of a page, as well as set the header and footer margins.

To Do: Change the Page Margins

1. Click the File menu and choose Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box opens.

2. Click the Margins tab. Excel shows you a sample page with the margin settings surrounding the page, as shown in Figure 7.4.

   Figure 7.4. The Margins tab.

   

3. Change the left margin setting to 1 " . In the Left box, click the up arrow once. The number 1 should appear in the box. This setting tells Excel to print the worksheet with a 1 " left margin.

4. Change the right margin setting to 1 " . In the Right box, click the up arrow once. The number 1 should appear in the box. Now Excel knows to print the worksheet with a 1 " right margin.

5. Print the worksheet from the Page Setup dialog box. Click the Print button. The Print dialog box appears.

6. In the Print dialog box, click OK to print the worksheet. Your worksheet should print with 1 " left and right margins.

Printing Gridlines

By default, Excel worksheets print without gridlines, which separate the cells . Your worksheets often look cleaner without the grids. However, you can change the overall appearance of your worksheet by printing the gridlines.

You get to try out printing the gridlines in the Summary sheet by completing the next exercise.

To Do: Print Gridlines

1. Click the File menu and choose Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box opens.

2. Click the Sheet tab. In the middle section of the Sheet tab, you should see the Print section with several options.

3. You want the Gridlines option in the Print section. Click the Gridlines check box to put a check mark in the box. This setting tells Excel to print the gridlines on the worksheet.

4. Print the worksheet from the Page Setup dialog box. Click the Print button. The Print dialog box appears.

5. In the Print dialog box, click OK to print the worksheet. Your worksheet should print with gridlines.