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How do I force a page break in Numbers for Mac?

I'm printing a spreadsheet in Numbers for Mac. The page is long enough that it is being split into 2 pages for printing. However, it's breaking in an awkward place. I thought I could insert a page break as I do in Pages for Mac but I can't find out how to do that.

Is it possible to insert a page break in Numbers for Mac? If not, does anyone know of a work-around for that? I know I could add enough blank rows to force it to break where I want it to break but that would result in printing a lot of blank rows, which I'd like to avoid.


Thank you!

Sheri

iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.5)

Posted on Jul 7, 2018 9:18 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jul 7, 2018 3:14 PM

Hi sr,


You can insert Page breaks in Pages because pages are defined in Pages as soon as you start a document.


In Numbers, pages are not defined until you print (or prepare to print) the document. Then, in Print Setup, Numbers shows you where the tables will be separated to fit on separate 'pages' of paper.


While you can't set page breaks in Numbers documents, you can place vertical and horizontal 'guide lines' in the document showing where the break will happen.


In the View menu, choose Show Rulers.


0 on the rulers is the top left corner of the printed area of Page 1.

If you are using US Letter size paper, and have set left and right margins to 0.5", your print area is 7.5" wide, so the first vertical guideline should be placed at 7.5" on the horizontal ruler at the top of the document window.


To place it:

Click in the Vertical ruler, hold the mouse button down and drag right to pull a vertical line from that ruler. Drag the line to 7.5" then release the mouse button. Repeat for as many widths needed to fit your document.


To place the Horizontal page guides, use the same process, pulling the horizontal guides from the horizontal ruler, and placing them at intervals equal to the print area height on each 'page'.


Note that you can choose to show or hide the guides as needed, using the Guides item in the view menu.

The guides do not print.


Regards,

Barry

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jul 7, 2018 3:14 PM in response to srlanza55

Hi sr,


You can insert Page breaks in Pages because pages are defined in Pages as soon as you start a document.


In Numbers, pages are not defined until you print (or prepare to print) the document. Then, in Print Setup, Numbers shows you where the tables will be separated to fit on separate 'pages' of paper.


While you can't set page breaks in Numbers documents, you can place vertical and horizontal 'guide lines' in the document showing where the break will happen.


In the View menu, choose Show Rulers.


0 on the rulers is the top left corner of the printed area of Page 1.

If you are using US Letter size paper, and have set left and right margins to 0.5", your print area is 7.5" wide, so the first vertical guideline should be placed at 7.5" on the horizontal ruler at the top of the document window.


To place it:

Click in the Vertical ruler, hold the mouse button down and drag right to pull a vertical line from that ruler. Drag the line to 7.5" then release the mouse button. Repeat for as many widths needed to fit your document.


To place the Horizontal page guides, use the same process, pulling the horizontal guides from the horizontal ruler, and placing them at intervals equal to the print area height on each 'page'.


Note that you can choose to show or hide the guides as needed, using the Guides item in the view menu.

The guides do not print.


Regards,

Barry

Jul 7, 2018 3:42 PM in response to srlanza55

Hi Sheri,


As I said earlier, "While you can't set page breaks in Numbers documents, you can place vertical and horizontal 'guide lines' in the document showing where the break will happen."


The guides give you an indication of where the page breaks will occur. Note that Numbers will split the table after the last full row (height) or last full column (width) that will fit on the printed page. In practice, this means the actual height per page and actual width per page will be slightly less than the maximum height and width specified by the page size and margins, making the guides drift as page numbers increase.


Regards,

Barry

Jul 7, 2018 3:20 PM in response to Barry

Barry:


Thank you. But I'm a bit confused. If I follow your instructions, will I have any control over where the page breaks? Or will I merely be able to see where the break will be? As much as I disliked using Microsoft Excel for so many years, I do remember that the user could have control over where the break would occur. I don't remember if it was called a page break in Excel but it accomplished the same thing that inserting a page break in Pages or Word accomplishes.


I do appreciate your instructions and will likely try them. But before I do, I'd like to understand better what I will be accomplishing.


Thanks very much!


Sheri

How do I force a page break in Numbers for Mac?

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