Excel Page Break Preview Tips

Have you seen this? When you open an Excel file, or switch to a different worksheet, there’s a large “Page 1” watermark in the middle of the sheet. What is it, and how did it get there?

If you’re familiar with this, maybe you can answer my question, further down, about using it in Excel 2013. If not, keep reading!

That “Page 1” doesn’t appear when you print the sheet, but if you’ve never seen it before, it can be annoying. How did it get there, and how can you get rid of it?

Page Break Preview

That page number is a sign that you are in Page Break Preview, and you can turn that setting off and on.

To go back to the regular worksheet view:

• On the Ribbon, click the View tab
• At the left, click the Normal View command.

Another way to switch between views is to use the small icons at the bottom right of the Excel window:

Using Page Break Preview

Don’t give up on Page Break Preview though, just because it has that annoying “Page 1” in the middle of it. It’s a great way to see how the printed pages will look, before you actually print them.

It shows all the automatic page breaks, as dashed blue lines. If you don’t like the position that an automatic page break falls, you can drag it to a new location, where it becomes a manual page break.

I had problems dragging the dashed line in Excel 2013 – the pointer and the grey line didn’t stay in the same place. Maybe it’s just my computer though – if you try it, please let me know if you see the same thing.

Watch the Page Break Preview Video

To see the steps for switching between view, and adjusting the page breaks, watch this short video.

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