XL: Cannot Set Print Area or Print Titles

 Last reviewed: February 2, 1998
Article ID: Q125640
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
  • Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SYMPTOMS

When you select multiple sheets in a Microsoft Excel workbook, certain sheet-specific print settings are unavailable in the Page Setup dialog box.

MORE INFORMATION

When you select multiple sheets, the following options are not available on the Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box: 

   - Print Area
   - Rows to repeat at top
   - Columns to repeat at left
NOTE: Menu commands that are not available are dimmed. Clicking on a menu command that is not available has no effect. Clicking the Set Print Area icon also has no effect when multiple sheets are selected.

Selecting multiple sheets places the sheets in group mode. In group mode, any changes you make to one sheet affect the other sheets in that group. The commands that are not available are settings that are specific to one page; these commands are not available in group mode.

Determining Whether Sheets Are in Group Mode

Sheets are in group mode if one of the following is true:

  • The word "Group" follows the workbook name in either the title bar of the program or the title bar of the workbook window. 

        -or-
  • When you right-click or press CONTROL while clicking (CONTROL-click on a Macintosh computer) any sheet tab, the command "Ungroup Sheets" appears on the shortcut menu. 

        -or-
  • More than one sheet tab is selected.

The default color of selected sheets is white. More than one white tab indicates that more than one sheet is selected.

Grouping Sheets

You can group sheets if you press SHIFT or CTRL (CONTROL on a Macintosh computer) while you click the sheet tab. Holding SHIFT selects all sheets in the range. Holding CTRL or CONTROL selects individual sheets and places them in a group.

Ungrouping Sheets

To ungroup sheets, do either of the following:

  • Click any sheet not included in the group. (The sheet tab of a sheet that is not selected is gray by default.) 

        -or-
  • Right-click or CONTROL-click (on the Macintosh) any sheet tab and click Ungroup Sheets.

REFERENCES

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

For more information about working with grouped sheets, click the Index button in MS Excel Help, type the following text 

   worksheets, selecting
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Select sheets in a workbook" topic.

Microsoft Excel 97

For more information about working with grouped sheets, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text 

   sheets, multiple entries
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Enter or edit the same data on multiple worksheets" topic.

Microsoft Excel 7.0

For more information about selecting multiple worksheets, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text 

   sheets, selecting
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Select sheets in a workbook" topic.

Microsoft Excel 5.0

For an "Overview of Selecting Sheets in a Workbook," choose the Search button in Help, and type: 

   worksheets, selecting
Choose the Show Topics button, select the topic, and choose Go To.

Additional query words: XL98 XL97 7.00 7.00a 5.00 5.00a 5.00c grouped
deselect printarea grayed greyed group edit mode group mode
Keywords : xlprint kbprint kbualink97
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,7.0a,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a,98
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto kbprb

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Last reviewed: February 2, 1998
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