Have you ever printed a spreadsheet in Excel and it was aligned at the left side of the sheet? In some cases this is perfectly fine, but in other situations this could look bad or unprofessional. This can leave you trying to learn how to center a worksheet horizontally in Excel.
Printing has long been one of the more annoying problems when working with Excel. Whether you want gridlines, or page numbers, or to fit all of your data on one page, it can be tough to find all of the settings that you would like to incorporate into your printed document’s layout.
Fortunately Excel 2010 has a number of different ways that you can customize the appearance of your printed spreadsheets, including a setting where you can center your worksheet horizontally and vertically. Our tutorial below will show you two ways to get to the menu where you are able to perform this centering.
How to Center Horizontally and Vertically in Excel 2010 When Printing
- Click the Page Layout tab.
- Click the Page Setup button at the bottom-right of the Page Setup section in the ribbon.
- Select the Margins tab.
- Check the box to the left of Horizontally or Vertically, or both.
Our article continues below with additional information to help you center the worksheet horizontally on the page or vertically on the page in Excel, including pictures of these steps.
How to Print a Centered Worksheet in Excel 2010 (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed in Microsoft Excel 2010, but will work in other newer versions of Excel as well. Note that you have the option to center horizontally, vertically, or both.
Step 1: Open the spreadsheet that you wish to center in Excel 2010.
Step 2: Select the Page Layout tab at the top of the window.
Step 3: Click the small Page Setup button at the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup section in the ribbon.
Step 4: Choose the Margins tab at the top of this window.
Step 5: Click the box to the left of Horizontally, Vertically, or both based on how you wish to center.
If you then press Ctrl + P on your keyboard or click the Print Preview button on this menu you will open the Print menu, where you will see a preview of the centered worksheet.
Alternate Method for Centering Horizontally and Vertically in Excel 2010
This method is very similar to the first method, we just go through the Margins option in the ribbon rather than through the Page Setup menu.
Step 1: Click the Page Layout tab at the top of the window.
Step 2: Click the Margins button, then choose the Custom Margins option at the bottom of the menu.
Step 3: Click the box to the left of the type of centering you wish to use.
Note that completing the steps above will not affect the appearance of your spreadsheet when you are editing in Excel. This setting only affects the way that the spreadsheet prints.
If you would also like to center the data in your cells, simply select the cells that you want to center, then select one of the options in the Align section on the Home tab.
For more information on ways that you can make your printed spreadsheets look better, check out our Excel printing optimization guide and view some additional tips.
Center Worksheet in Excel Tips
You are going to have the option to center the printed worksheet horizontally, vertically, or both. This choice is going to depend on your own preferences, the size of the worksheet, and simply how the data looks when you go to print it.
It’s helpful to take advantage of the Print Preview window that is shown when you go to the Print menu from the File tab, or when you press Ctrl + P to go to it directly. This lets you see how everything will look before you potentially waste paper and time printing something that you don’t like.
Excel does not center worksheets in any way by default, nor will it remember the choices that you make with your previous file. You are going to need to make this adjustment for each new spreadsheet that you edit in the application.
The centering choice that you make will only apply to the current worksheet. It will not affect the rest of the worksheet tabs in your workbook. You can apply changes to the entire workbook, however, if you hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and select all of the tabs before you apply the centering option.
Centering your worksheet using the steps in this guide is only going to center the entire worksheet as a unit on the printed page. This is not going to affect the centering of the data with your cells.
Additional Reading
Kermit Matthews is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience writing technology guides. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and has spent much of his professional career in IT management.
He specializes in writing content about iPhones, Android devices, Microsoft Office and many other popular applications and devices.