Page Layout Ribbon Tab

Introduction:

The “Page Layout” ribbon tab in Microsoft Excel is one of the main tabs located at the top of the Excel window. The “Page Layout” tab provides various tools and options for formatting and configuring the appearance of your worksheet for printing purposes. It allows you to set the page orientation, adjust margins, add headers and footers, apply page breaks, and more.

There are 5 groups present in Microsoft 365 in the “Page Layout Ribbon” tab:

1. Themes
2. Page Setup
3. Scale to fit
4. Sheet Options
5. Arrange

Themes: This group provides options for applying different visual themes to your worksheet, such as colors, fonts, and effects. Themes can quickly change the overall look of your workbook.

The theme group has 4 command buttons/icons within itself:

Image of the theme group

A. Theme: This will change the overall theme of your workbook with a single click. There are various default themes present in the dropdown button such as Office, facets, integral etc. It will change the font, color, and effects of the workbook.

To locate the “Tables” group in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Themes> Theme

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+TH

B. Color: The dropdown button in color icon allows users to select a color scheme from the current theme. There are different color schemes present in the dropdown that can change the colors used for text, backgrounds, and other elements in the workbook.

To locate “Color” schemes in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Themes> Color

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+TC

C. Fonts: The Fonts dropdown allows users to choose the font set associated with the current theme. Selecting a font set will change the fonts used for headings, body text, and other elements in the workbook.

To locate “Fonts” sets in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Themes> Fonts

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+TF

D. Effects: The Effects dropdown provides options to the users for adding visual effects to the Excel workbook, such as shadow and reflection. These effects are normally applied to shapes and objects in the spreadsheet.

To locate “Effects” dropdown in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Themes> Effects

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+TE

Page Setup: The “Page Setup” group provides various options to prepare the workbook/spreadsheet page for proper printing. For instance, users can adjust the page margins, choose for page layout, set the print area, and scaling of the Excel content to fit on the page for printing.

This group includes buttons such as:

A. Margins: This feature allows users to set the page margins towards all 4 [four] sides of the page for the entire Excel Spreadsheet or the selected portion. There are predefined margin settings, also there is the option to customize the margins by choosing the “Custom Margins” button.

To locate the “Margins” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Margins

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+M

B. Orientations: This feature allows users to arrange the page orientation. This option shows how the workbook content will be arranged on the printed page.

There are two options for it:

a) Portrait: it is the vertical arrangement of the page, meaning the longer side of the page runs vertically and the shorter side horizontally.

b) Landscape: It is a horizontal arrangement of the page, meaning that the longer side of the page runs horizontally, and the shorter side runs vertically.

To locate the “Orientations” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Orientations

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+O

C. Size: This command allows users to specify the size of the paper size on which the printout is to be taken. For instance, if you are taking print out on A4 size, then in the size option select “A4” in the Excel “size” command so that all margins and content are properly printed.

There are standard paper sizes available in the dropdown menu of the “size” button, such as letter, legal, A4, etc.

To locate the paper “Size” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Size

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+SZ

D. Print Area: This option allows users to define the area that users want to print. It can be done by dragging the mouse on the portion of the sheet that needs to be printed.

To locate the “Print Area” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Print Area

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+R+S

E. Breaks [Page breaks]: This command inserts the page break in the Excel sheet. When a page break is inserted in excel it starts the beginning of the new page while printing, this helps in arranging the content across different pages.

To locate the “Breaks” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Breaks

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+B+I

F. Background: This option enables users to set an image or color in the background of the printed page. This feature is best for using a watermark or company logo in the background of your content.

To locate the “Background” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Background

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+G

H. Print Titles: This feature helps users to repeat the header and/or columns on every page prepared for printing. For instance, if you want to print the content on 10 pages and you want the top heading to be printed at the top of every page then the “Print Title” command can be used to do this job.

Here are the simple steps to print the titles on every printed page:

Step 1: Click on the “Print Tile” command, and a small window will open.

Step 2: In the sheet tab of this window, select the heading row against the “Rows to repeat at top” cell. Click OK.

To locate the “Print Titles” command in MS Excel, follow this path:

Page Layout > Page Setup> Print Titles

Keyboard Shortcut Key: Alt + P+i

Scale to Fit: This group offers options to adjust the size of the printed content to fit within a specific number of pages or to scale it to a particular percentage of its original size. This ‘Scale to Fit’ group has three command functions:

1. Width: This function helps the users shrink the width of their printable layout to fit a defined number of pages. The users can fit its content to a specific number of pages horizontally.
2. Height: This command shrinks the height of the spreadsheet to fit a specific number of pages vertically.
3. Scale: This command automatically fits the percentage of the size of the spreadsheet (printout) to a single page. For example, if you select a 50% scale then, the size of the printout is reduced to half (50%) and is shrunk to a single page.

There is also a dialog box within this group which has the following command in it.

Page Setup:

1. Page
2. Margins
3. Header/Footer
4. Sheet

Sheet Options: The “Sheet Options” group provides checkboxes for controlling the visibility of gridlines and heading elements on the printed page.

There are four checkboxes in this group two are for gridlines and two are for the headings. These two checkboxes are view and print meaning whether you wanted to view that function in the spreadsheet and print is to have that function printed on the printout.

1. Gridlines
   1. View
   2. Print
2. Headings
   1. View
   2. Print

Arrange: This group contains commands for organizing objects, such as images or shapes, within your worksheet. You can align, group, or position objects precisely.

1. Bring Forward: This command brings the selected object in front of all the other objects.
2. Send Backward: This command sends the selected object behind all the other objects.
3. Selection Plane: This command shows a list of all the objects, it makes it easier for the users to select the objects and change their order and visibility.
4. Align: The Align command helps the alignment of the objects in various positions such as left, right, middle, center, top, and bottom of the page.
5. Group: This command helps to group various objects into one.
6. Rotate: This command helps to rotate the object in any degree of orientation.