How to insert a page break in Excel

You have created a spreadsheet (a workbook in Microsoft language) in Microsoft Excel and now want to print it out. By default, Excel uses settings such as paper size, margin settings, and scaling to automatically insert page breaks. However, to get clean and unobtrusive pages without cutting any lines or text, you can manually insert a page break in the Excel worksheet.

The instructions in this article apply to Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, and Excel 2007.

Insert page break

You can create manual page breaks in normal view in Excel, but the page break preview allows you to see details like the difference between an automatic page break and a manual page break.

Excel indicates an automatic page break with a dotted line. It indicates a manual page break with a solid line.

Now that you know what you are looking for, follow these steps to insert a manual page break in your workbook:

• Open the Excel workbook that you want to print.
• On the ribbon, select the See tab.In the Viewpoints on workbooks group, select page break preview.

  You can also choose page break preview in the status bar at the bottom of the application.

• Excel knows two types of page breaks:
  • Vertical page break: Select the line below where the break is located.
  • Horizontal page break: Select the column to the right of the break.

  Alignment of page breaks in Microsoft Excel.

• On the ribbon, select the layout tab.In the layout group, select breaks > Insert page break.

  If you’re using a mouse, you can right-click the row below or the column to the right of where you want to stop and then select Insert page break in the context menu.

Change a page break

You can change page breaks in Excel in three ways:

• Moves a specified page break.
• Remove a specific page break.
• Remove all page breaks from the manual.

Moves a specific page break

To move a specific page break in your workbook, select the page break you want to move, and then drag it to the new location.

You can also move automatic page breaks, but doing so makes them manual page breaks.

Remove a specific page break

To remove a specific page break in your workbook, do the following:

Select the row below or the column to the right of the snippet you want to delete.

On the ribbon, select the layout Tab.

In which layout group, select breaks > Remove page break.

You cannot remove an automatic page break.

Remove all manual page breaks

To remove a specific page break in your workbook, do the following:

On the ribbon, select the layout Tab.

In which layout group, select breaks > Repeat all page breaks.

If you are using a mouse, right-click any cell in the workbook and then select it Repeat all page breaks in the context menu.