Excel offers many page formatting options to assist you in displaying worksheet data. These features can help organise your data and make it presentable for printing.

The first stop in formatting your page is Page Setup, found under the File menu. With this control, you can orient the page in either horizontal or vertical format, scale the page when printing, shrink the data to fit a specific page format, adjust the print quality and set the page size and choose the proper printer driver.

The Margin tab in the Page Setup dialogue box also allows you to set the document margins, either by sliding the margins on a graphic, or by typing in precise numerical margins on all four sides of the document. You can also adjust the document's header and footer.

The Header/Footer tab allows you to select pre-defined header and footer elements, or customise your own. You can also apply formatting and style elements to text in the header and footer. The customised text option will also allow you to cut and paste pictures into the document's header and footer.

Data within the document can be formatted using standard formatting controls found in the formatting toolbars and in the Format menu. Formatting can be applied to the entire document or to individual cells, rows or columns. You can select non-adjacent cells by holding down the Ctrl key and selecting individual cells. Once the desired cells are selected, apply formatting changes as desired. The formatting changes will be visible in the selected cells.

If you want to adjust the page breaks, select Page Break Preview from the View menu. The preview will show the default page breaks. You can adjust the page breaks to fit your desired layout by clicking on the margins of the document in Page Break Preview mode and dragging them to suit your needs. Keep in mind that you cannot affect the document margins by moving the location of the page break. In other words, you can "shorten" a page with the Page Break Preview tool, but you cannot use it to extend the established margins of the document.

You can also insert a Page Break using the Insert > Page Break menu command. You are likely to find it easier to use the Page Break Preview to adjust your page breaks, however.

Notes for editors: Claire Blinman is the training manager at Computer Training Solutions in Bristol, which offers Excel Courses http://www.computertrainingsolutions.co.uk/Excel_Training_Courses_Open_Schedule.htm or call 0800 019 6882.

Source: www.articlecity.com