The Worksheet Class (Page Setup)

Page set-up methods affect the way that a worksheet looks when it is printed. They control features such as paper size, orientation, page headers and margins.

These methods are really just standard worksheet methods. They are documented separately for the sake of clarity.

worksheet.set_landscape()

set_landscape()

Set the page orientation as landscape.

This method is used to set the orientation of a worksheet’s printed page to landscape:

worksheet.set_landscape()

worksheet.set_portrait()

set_portrait()

Set the page orientation as portrait.

This method is used to set the orientation of a worksheet’s printed page to portrait. The default worksheet orientation is portrait, so you won’t generally need to call this method:

worksheet.set_portrait()

worksheet.set_page_view()

set_page_view()

Set the page view mode.

This method is used to display the worksheet in “Page View/Layout” mode:

worksheet.set_page_view()

worksheet.set_paper()

set_paper(index)

Set the paper type.

Parameters:index (int) – The Excel paper format index.

This method is used to set the paper format for the printed output of a worksheet. The following paper styles are available:

Index Paper format Paper size
0 Printer default  
1 Letter 8 1/2 x 11 in
2 Letter Small 8 1/2 x 11 in
3 Tabloid 11 x 17 in
4 Ledger 17 x 11 in
5 Legal 8 1/2 x 14 in
6 Statement 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in
7 Executive 7 1/4 x 10 1/2 in
8 A3 297 x 420 mm
9 A4 210 x 297 mm
10 A4 Small 210 x 297 mm
11 A5 148 x 210 mm
12 B4 250 x 354 mm
13 B5 182 x 257 mm
14 Folio 8 1/2 x 13 in
15 Quarto 215 x 275 mm
16   10x14 in
17   11x17 in
18 Note 8 1/2 x 11 in
19 Envelope 9 3 7/8 x 8 7/8
20 Envelope 10 4 1/8 x 9 1/2
21 Envelope 11 4 1/2 x 10 3/8
22 Envelope 12 4 3/4 x 11
23 Envelope 14 5 x 11 1/2
24 C size sheet  
25 D size sheet  
26 E size sheet  
27 Envelope DL 110 x 220 mm
28 Envelope C3 324 x 458 mm
29 Envelope C4 229 x 324 mm
30 Envelope C5 162 x 229 mm
31 Envelope C6 114 x 162 mm
32 Envelope C65 114 x 229 mm
33 Envelope B4 250 x 353 mm
34 Envelope B5 176 x 250 mm
35 Envelope B6 176 x 125 mm
36 Envelope 110 x 230 mm
37 Monarch 3.875 x 7.5 in
38 Envelope 3 5/8 x 6 1/2 in
39 Fanfold 14 7/8 x 11 in
40 German Std Fanfold 8 1/2 x 12 in
41 German Legal Fanfold 8 1/2 x 13 in

Note, it is likely that not all of these paper types will be available to the end user since it will depend on the paper formats that the user’s printer supports. Therefore, it is best to stick to standard paper types:

worksheet.set_paper(1)  # US Letter
worksheet.set_paper(9)  # A4

If you do not specify a paper type the worksheet will print using the printer’s default paper style.

center_horizontally()

center_horizontally()

Center the printed page horizontally.

Center the worksheet data horizontally between the margins on the printed page:

worksheet.center_horizontally()

center_vertically()

center_vertically()

Center the printed page vertically.

Center the worksheet data vertically between the margins on the printed page:

worksheet.center_vertically()

worksheet.set_margins()

set_margins([left=0.7,] right=0.7,] top=0.75,] bottom=0.75]]])

Set the worksheet margins for the printed page.

Parameters:
  • left (float) – Left margin in inches. Default 0.7.
  • right (float) – Right margin in inches. Default 0.7.
  • top (float) – Top margin in inches. Default 0.75.
  • bottom (float) – Bottom margin in inches. Default 0.75.

The set_margins() method is used to set the margins of the worksheet when it is printed. The units are in inches. All parameters are optional and have default values corresponding to the default Excel values.

set_header()

set_header([header='',] margin=0.3]])

Set the printed page header caption and optional margin.

Parameters:
  • header (string) – Header string with Excel control characters.
  • margin (float) – Header margin in inches. Default 0.3.

Headers and footers are generated using a string which is a combination of plain text and control characters.

The available control character are:

Control Category Description
&L Justification Left
&C   Center
&R   Right
&P Information Page number
&N   Total number of pages
&D   Date
&T   Time
&F   File name
&A   Worksheet name
&Z   Workbook path
&fontsize Font Font size
&”font,style”   Font name and style
&U   Single underline
&E   Double underline
&S   Strikethrough
&X   Superscript
&Y   Subscript
&& Miscellaneous Literal ampersand &

Text in headers and footers can be justified (aligned) to the left, center and right by prefixing the text with the control characters &L, &C and &R.

For example (with ASCII art representation of the results):

worksheet.set_header('&LHello')

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   | Hello                                                         |
   |                                                               |


$worksheet->set_header('&CHello');

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   |                          Hello                                |
   |                                                               |


$worksheet->set_header('&RHello');

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   |                                                         Hello |
   |                                                               |

For simple text, if you do not specify any justification the text will be centred. However, you must prefix the text with &C if you specify a font name or any other formatting:

worksheet.set_header('Hello')

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   |                          Hello                                |
   |                                                               |

You can have text in each of the justification regions:

worksheet.set_header('&LCiao&CBello&RCielo')

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   | Ciao                     Bello                          Cielo |
   |                                                               |

The information control characters act as variables that Excel will update as the workbook or worksheet changes. Times and dates are in the users default format:

worksheet.set_header('&CPage &P of &N')

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   |                        Page 1 of 6                            |
   |                                                               |

worksheet.set_header('&CUpdated at &T')

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   |                    Updated at 12:30 PM                        |
   |                                                               |

You can specify the font size of a section of the text by prefixing it with the control character &n where n is the font size:

worksheet1.set_header('&C&30Hello Big')
worksheet2.set_header('&C&10Hello Small')

You can specify the font of a section of the text by prefixing it with the control sequence &"font,style" where fontname is a font name such as “Courier New” or “Times New Roman” and style is one of the standard Windows font descriptions: “Regular”, “Italic”, “Bold” or “Bold Italic”:

worksheet1.set_header('&C&"Courier New,Italic"Hello')
worksheet2.set_header('&C&"Courier New,Bold Italic"Hello')
worksheet3.set_header('&C&"Times New Roman,Regular"Hello')

It is possible to combine all of these features together to create sophisticated headers and footers. As an aid to setting up complicated headers and footers you can record a page set-up as a macro in Excel and look at the format strings that VBA produces. Remember however that VBA uses two double quotes "" to indicate a single double quote. For the last example above the equivalent VBA code looks like this:

.LeftHeader = ""
.CenterHeader = "&""Times New Roman,Regular""Hello"
.RightHeader = ""

To include a single literal ampersand & in a header or footer you should use a double ampersand &&:

worksheet1.set_header('&CCuriouser and Curiouser - Attorneys at Law')

As stated above the margin parameter is optional. As with the other margins the value should be in inches. The default header and footer margin is 0.3 inch. The header and footer margin size can be set as follows:

worksheet.set_header('&CHello', 0.75)

The header and footer margins are independent of the top and bottom margins.

Note, the header or footer string must be less than 255 characters. Strings longer than this will not be written and an exception will be thrown.

repeat_rows()

repeat_rows(first_row[, last_row])

Set the number of rows to repeat at the top of each printed page.

Parameters:
  • first_row (int) – First row of repeat range.
  • last_row (int) – Last row of repeat range. Optional.

For large Excel documents it is often desirable to have the first row or rows of the worksheet print out at the top of each page.

This can be achieved by using the repeat_rows() method. The parameters first_row and last_row are zero based. The last_row parameter is optional if you only wish to specify one row:

worksheet1.repeat_rows(0)     # Repeat the first row.
worksheet2.repeat_rows(0, 1)  # Repeat the first two rows.

repeat_columns()

repeat_columns(first_col[, last_col])

Set the columns to repeat at the left hand side of each printed page.

Parameters:
  • first_col (int) – First column of repeat range.
  • last_col (int) – Last column of repeat range. Optional.

For large Excel documents it is often desirable to have the first column or columns of the worksheet print out at the left hand side of each page.

This can be achieved by using the repeat_columns() method. The parameters first_column and last_column are zero based. The last_column parameter is optional if you only wish to specify one column. You can also specify the columns using A1 column notation, see Working with Cell Notation for more details.:

worksheet1.repeat_columns(0)      # Repeat the first column.
worksheet2.repeat_columns(0, 1)   # Repeat the first two columns.
worksheet3.repeat_columns('A:A')  # Repeat the first column.
worksheet4.repeat_columns('A:B')  # Repeat the first two columns.

hide_gridlines()

set_header([option=1])

Set the option to hide gridlines on the screen and the printed page.

Parameters:option (int) – Hide gridline options. See below.

This method is used to hide the gridlines on the screen and printed page. Gridlines are the lines that divide the cells on a worksheet. Screen and printed gridlines are turned on by default in an Excel worksheet.

If you have defined your own cell borders you may wish to hide the default gridlines:

worksheet.hide_gridlines()

The following values of option are valid:

  1. Don’t hide gridlines.
  2. Hide printed gridlines only.
  3. Hide screen and printed gridlines.

If you don’t supply an argument the default option is 1, i.e. only the printed gridlines are hidden.

worksheet.print_across()

Set the order in which pages are printed.

The print_across method is used to change the default print direction. This is referred to by Excel as the sheet “page order”:

worksheet.print_across()

The default page order is shown below for a worksheet that extends over 4 pages. The order is called “down then across”:

[1] [3]
[2] [4]

However, by using the print_across method the print order will be changed to “across then down”:

[1] [2]
[3] [4]