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Printing Problems

How to Reset Excel Page Numbers for Each Worksheet When Printing

Elise WilliamsElise Williams Oct 21, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user wants to reset the starting page number and the total page count for individual worksheets when printing multiple Excel sheets together.

How to Reset Excel Page Numbers for Each Worksheet When Printing
Product
Microsoft Excel
Device & OS
not provided
Scenario
Printing multiple worksheets in a single print job while maintaining separate page numbering sequences.
Observed behavior
Excel can restart the first page number but combines the total page count across all selected worksheets, preventing separate 'Page X of Y' formats per sheet.
Before you start

Preview your worksheets to confirm exactly how many pages each sheet requires before adjusting the page setup or modifying headers and footers.

Solution 1Recommended

Set the First Page Number to 1 in Page Setup

This method forces Excel to restart the numbering at page 1 for each selected worksheet instead of numbering continuously.

By default, Excel's First Page Number is set to 'Automatic'. Changing this to '1' ensures every worksheet begins at page 1, even when batch printing.

1
Select worksheets

Hold down the Ctrl key and click the worksheet tabs at the bottom to select the multiple sheets you want to print.

2
Open Page Setup

Navigate to the Page Layout tab on the ribbon and click the small Page Setup dialog box launcher arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup group.

3
Change First Page Number

On the Page tab of the dialog box, locate the 'First page number' field at the bottom. Delete 'Auto' and type '1'.

4
Apply and print

Click OK to save your changes. You can now proceed to print your selected worksheets.

Set the First Page Number to 1 in Page Setup
Total Page Count Limitation: While this resets the starting page number to 1, if your footer uses the 'Page 1 of ?' format, the total pages will still reflect the combined count of all selected sheets.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I save multiple worksheets as a single PDF with separate page sequences?

Native Excel functionality combines the total page count when saving multiple sheets as one PDF. To retain separate sequences, you would need to export each sheet as an individual PDF and then merge them using a PDF editor, or use custom VBA macros.

Why does my printed Excel sheet show 'Page 1 of 10' instead of 'Page 1 of 2'?

When multiple worksheets are selected and printed together, Excel calculates the total pages across all selected sheets for the 'Total Pages' variable. To get accurate individual totals, you must print each sheet separately.

How do I add page numbers only to specific worksheets?

Select the specific worksheet you want to number, go to Insert > Header & Footer, and add your page numbers. Make sure you do not have multiple sheets grouped (selected together) when applying this, otherwise the header/footer will be applied to all grouped sheets.