Have you ever tried to print a Google Sheets spreadsheet?
Without page breaks, you may have noticed that the spreadsheet data has been distributed arbitrarily between the printed pages.
It can be frustrating to obtain the desired prints if you don’t know how to add and remove page breaks in Google Sheets.
Google Sheets page breaks are helpful in many cases, including printing templates.
In this article, let us quickly look at inserting page breaks in Google Sheets. We will also discuss viewing, editing, resetting, and removing page breaks.
So, make sure to read the article till the end.
Download the Example Google Sheet
The Google Sheet contains the example dataset we used to demonstrate adding page breaks to a spreadsheet in the following sections.
You can click on the following link to make a copy.
It will surely help you practice and strengthen your knowledge of the topics discussed in this article.
You can skip downloading the above file if your Google Sheet is ready with the required data.
Now, without any further ado, let’s begin.
How to Add Page Breaks in Google Sheets
Adding page breaks in Google Sheets is pretty straightforward. You don’t need to be an expert at Google Sheets to execute this task.
Google Sheets has recently announced this feature. Before it, adding page breaks required users to go through an extra workaround.
Now, things are easy, and anyone can add page breaks to Google Sheets without losing any formatting while printing.
Task: We have an employee database, as shown below. Our job is to print each department’s employee details on a separate page.
Here are the steps to insert page breaks in Google Sheets.
STEP #1 – Open Print Settings
This is the first step where we will jump into the print settings wizard. It lets users adjust print configurations, including Paper Size, Page Orientation, Scale, Margins, and more.
- Open the Google Sheet
- Go to the main menu
- Click on the “File” button
- Select the last option, “Print“
A new dialogue box will be opened once you click on the Print option, as shown below.
It is divided into two sections: Preview Window and Settings.
STEP #2 – Adjust the Page Breaks
Now, we need to adjust the page breaks to ensure each department and its employees are printed on separate pages.
- Hove to the right-hand side of the Print Settings screen
- Click on the “SET CUSTOM PAGE BREAKS” button as shown below
- You will be taken to a new screen where the dotted lines represent the page breaks
- Hover over the first-page break
- Click and hold to move it across the table
- Drag the page break to the desired location. In this case, we will drag it to the last employee of the Accounting department
- Repeat this process for the rest of the departments
(Make sure to scroll down to the screen to find more page breaks) - Once you are done, click on the “CONFIRM BREAKS” button on the upper-rightmost corner of the screen
After following the above steps, you will be returned to the Print Settings screen. In the preview window, you will see that employees are separated by their department on each page.
STEP #3 – Print Pages
It’s time to print the pages we worked out in the previous step.
- Hover to the upper-rightmost corner of the Print Settings screen
- Click on the “Next” button
- A new dialog box will open, as shown in the following image
- Select your printer
- Click on the “Print” button
Note that if you wish to save your spreadsheet as a PDF document. Then, while selecting your printer, once you click on the dropdown beside the option “Destination“, choose “Save as PDF“.
FAQs
Q. How do you view and edit Custom Page Breaks in Google Sheets?
Once the Custom Page Breaks are defined for a spreadsheet, they are saved and can be viewed and edited even after the Print Settings screen is closed.
Here are the steps to edit Custom Page Breaks:
- Open the Google Sheet
- Hover to the main menu and click on “File” button
- Select the “Print” option from the popup
- The Print Settings screen will popup
- Go to the right-hand side of the screen and click on the “Edit” button beside the “Custom page breaks” option
- You will be taken to the page breaks edit window, as shown in the following image
- Drag and drop the page breaks as per your preference
- Once done, click on the “CONFIRM BREAKS” button in the upper-rightmost corner of the screen
Q. How do you reset Custom Page Breaks in Google Sheets?
If the custom page breaks you define are no longer helpful, consider removing them.
All you need to do is click the “Reset” button after entering the Page Breaks edit window. Refer to the following image.
For the steps to enter the Page Breaks edit window, please refer to the answer to the first question in the FAQs section.
Q. How do you remove a page break (Horizontal and Vertical) in Google Sheets?
Removing a page break is pretty straightforward.
Suppose we wish to remove a horizontal page break, as shown below.
Hover over any of the horizontal page breaks you wish to remove. A cross (x) icon appears at the far left of that page break. Refer to the following image.
Google Sheets Page Break Guide (Final Words)
Adding and removing page breaks is a breeze in Google Sheets.
I hope this quick guide taught you all the bells and whistles of inserting and removing page breaks in Google Sheets.
Feel free to comment below if you are stuck somewhere or having any particular issue while printing a Google Sheets spreadsheet. I will try to answer all of your questions as soon as possible.
Explore our blog for more tips and tricks about using Google Sheets like a pro!