How to Change the Default Paper Size in Excel 2010

Excel printing problems come in a number of shapes and sizes. Whether you have a column that keeps trying to fit on its own page, or the spreadsheet is using way more paper than it should, finding the proper formatting can be a frustrating endeavor.

But if you find that you print a lot of similar spreadsheets and one of the settings that you change is the page size, then you might want to change the default paper size to something other than its current settings. Fortunately you can do so by creating a new template that Excel 2010 will use by default. So continue below to see how you can change the default paper size for new Excel 2010 spreadsheets.

How to Set the Default Page Size in Excel 2010

The steps below are going to create a new default user template, with a default page size of “Legal.” You can select whichever paper size you want, however. This is not going to changer any paper size settings for existing spreadsheets on your computer, nor will it change the paper size for spreadsheets sent to you by someone else.

Step 1: Open Excel 2010.

Step 2: Click the Page Layout tab at the top of the window.

click the page layout tab

Step 3: Click the Size button, then select the desired default paper size.

choose the new default paper size

Step 4: Click the File tab at the top-left corner of the window.

click the file tab

Step 5: Click the Save As button in the left column.

click the save as button

Step 6: Change the File name to Book, then click the Save as type drop-down menu and choose the Excel Template option. Take note of where you are saving the file, then click the Save button.

save the file as an excel template

Step 7: Browse to the location where you saved the file, copy it, then paste the copied file to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\XLSTART folder. Note that you will need to have administrator credentials to save in this location.

save the default template to the correct folder

If this doesn’t result in a new default paper size the next time you open Excel 2010, then you likely have a user template set for your Excel installation. You can navigate to this location C:\Users\YourUserNameHere\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART , delete the template in that folder, then paste the new template that you just created.

how to change the default paper size in excel 2010

If you can’t find the AppData folder, then you will need to unhide it. Click here for instructions on how to do so.

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