How to Set and Adjust Print Area in Excel VBA: Complete Guide with Practical Business Use Cases

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How to Set and Adjust Print Area in Excel VBA: Complete Guide with Practical Business Use Cases

When preparing Excel reports for printing, the result must be clean, professional, and readable. But as data grows, page breaks shift, blank columns sneak in, or headers disappear from subsequent pages. Manual adjustments consume time and invite mistakes — especially when printing is done frequently.

That’s where Excel VBA automation becomes a practical solution. By controlling print settings through code, you ensure consistent layouts, prevent formatting errors, and dramatically speed up report distribution. Whether you are generating daily summaries, invoices, dashboards, or compliance documents, properly setting and adjusting the print area with VBA elevates print output from “quick and messy” to “business-ready”.

This detailed guide walks through every essential technique for automating print areas in the active worksheet, including setting, clearing, resizing, fitting to pages, adding titles, previewing, printing, and PDF exporting. Along the way, you’ll find field-tested examples, best practices, and productivity enhancements that match real business needs.

✅ What Is Print Area and Why Automate It?

In Excel, the Print Area defines the exact range of cells included in printing or PDF export. Anything outside the area is ignored. This allows you to:

Prevent blank cells from appearing on printed pages
Control the presentation of your reports
Standardize printing across multiple team members
Reduce wasted paper and confusion

Why automation is essential

Manual print adjustments often fail because:

People forget to update page layout after inserting new data
UsedRange shifts unexpectedly
Responsiveness varies between users and device environments

VBA automates logic that would otherwise require constant manual oversight. This transforms repetitive tasks into error-free processes.

✅ Bonus: Automated print workflows integrate perfectly with RPA tools like UiPath, making “hands-off reporting” a reality.

✅ Core Object for Print Area Automation

In VBA, print settings are controlled primarily through this object:

ActiveSheet.PageSetup

Using it, you can configure:

Setting	VBA Property
Print Area	PrintArea
Fit to page	FitToPagesWide / Tall
Headers on every page	PrintTitleRows
Print PDF	ExportAsFixedFormat
Centering	CenterHorizontally / Vertically
Paper size & margins	PaperSize / LeftMargin etc.

With these properties, printing becomes a predictable business workflow.

✅ Setting a Fixed Print Area Using VBA

・Example: Define an Exact Range Manually

Sub SetFixedPrintArea()
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintArea = "$A$1:$H$40"
End Sub

This ensures printing is limited to a designated zone — useful when forms never change in structure.

✅ Best for: Invoice templates, pre-designed dashboards, external documents

✅ Removing an Existing Print Area

Manual layout settings sometimes persist incorrectly. Clear them first:

・Example: Reset Print Area Setting

Sub ClearPrintArea()
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintArea = ""
End Sub

Once cleared, Excel returns to printing all used content.

✅ Use before dynamically resizing the print area

✅ Setting Print Area Based on Dynamic Data Size

Most business data grows and shrinks. Automating range detection is essential.

・Example: Auto-detect and set UsedRange

Sub AutoPrintAreaFromUsedRange()
Dim rng As Range
Set rng = ActiveSheet.UsedRange
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintArea = rng.Address
End Sub

Why it matters:

Supports unpredictable data size
Prevents printing invisible junk beyond real rows
Saves time whenever data refreshes

・Example: Detect Data Extent by Last Row

Sub AutoPrintAreaLastRow()
Dim lastRow As Long
lastRow = Cells(Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintArea = "$A$1:$H$" & lastRow
End Sub

✅ Best for: Databases where Column A always contains data

If width also varies, add a dynamic last column calculation similarly.

・Example: Auto-expand Print Area Only Downward

Sub ExpandAreaDown()
Dim lastRow As Long
lastRow = Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintArea = "$A$1:$G$" & lastRow
End Sub

Ideal for transaction logs, shipping lists, financial journals.

✅ Improving Page Layout: Fitting Content Correctly

Raw print output can span multiple pages unpredictably. Control how pages break:

・Fit Entire Sheet on One Page

Sub FitToOnePage()
With ActiveSheet.PageSetup
.Zoom = False
.FitToPagesWide = 1
.FitToPagesTall = 1
End With
End Sub

✅ Single-page summaries
⚠️ Watch out for tiny unreadable text

・Fit Width Only (Height flexible)

Sub FitToWidthOnly()
With ActiveSheet.PageSetup
.Zoom = False
.FitToPagesWide = 1
.FitToPagesTall = False
End With
End Sub

✅ Great for wide monthly reports
✅ Prevents extreme shrinkage

・Center the Print Content Horizontally

Sub CenterPrintedContent()
With ActiveSheet.PageSetup
.CenterHorizontally = True
.CenterVertically = False
End With
End Sub

Polishes customer-facing reports and forms.

✅ Enhancing Clarity with Titles and Orientation

・Repeat Header Row on Every Page

Sub IncludeHeaderRow()
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintTitleRows = "$1:$1"
End Sub

✅ Keeps column labels visible throughout large prints

・Change Orientation Automatically

Sub SwitchToLandscape()
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.Orientation = xlLandscape
End Sub

✅ Perfect for dashboards and charts

✅ Practical Automation Scenarios Using VBA

Business Case	Automation Effect
Daily operational reports	No layout drift → professional consistency
Warehouse shipment lists	Avoid missing rows at page bottom
Financial PDFs for audit	Immediate compliance-ready formatting
Forms sent externally	Standardized corporate appearance
UiPath / RPA distribution	Print → PDF → Email = Zero human effort

Automation enables Excel to function as a reporting engine, not just a spreadsheet.

✅ Print Preview and Final Output Commands

Before committing to paper, display preview interactively:

・Example: Preview Output

Sub ShowPreview()
ActiveSheet.PrintPreview
End Sub

・Example: Print Directly

Sub PrintDirect()
ActiveSheet.PrintOut
End Sub

✅ Export to PDF Automatically

An essential step for automation with RPA tools:

・Example: Save Report as PDF

Sub ExportReportPDF()
ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat _
Type:=xlTypePDF, _
Filename:="Report.pdf", _
Quality:=xlQualityStandard
End Sub

✅ Combine with email automation → full delivery workflow

✅ Troubleshooting: When Prints Don’t Look Right

Problem	Likely Cause	Best Solution
Blank pages appear	Invisible formatting outside main data	Reset UsedRange or clear print area
Text shrinks unreadably	Fit-to-page too aggressive	Fit width only or adjust margins
Headers missing	Titles not configured	Set PrintTitleRows
Extra columns printed	Hidden columns still included	Unhide temporarily / restrict print area

Small layout issues can become major operational problems — fixing them upfront ensures reliability.

✅ Deep Automation Tips for Advanced Users

Combine print logic with database imports
Run layout adjustment immediately after refreshing Power Query
Integrate PDF export with email sending scripts
Create ribbon buttons for non-technical users

Even better:
Use UiPath robots to run the entire pipeline overnight.
Managers arrive in the morning with reports already printed and delivered.

This is where Excel truly joins enterprise automation.

✅ Summary: Master Print Areas to Produce Professional Excel Reports Automatically

Print Area controls what is included in printed output
Automation eliminates manual layout maintenance
VBA ensures reports are always clean, legible, and aligned
Fitting, centering, and header repetition boost readability
PDF export integrates perfectly with RPA workflows like UiPath

By leveraging VBA to manage print layout intelligently, you upgrade Excel from a spreadsheet tool into a fully automated reporting platform. Once mastered, printing becomes a reliable system — not a tedious chore.