The Print Area is an important concept.  It is a frame that you can use to configure which area of the map you want to print.  The print area is normally shown  as a coloured (default is blue) frame with round corners.  When you print, this frame is also shown on the printout.

If you don't want to print a frame around the printed area, you can turn off the print area frame by double clicking on it and use the Setup Print Area dialog that pops up.   When the print area frame is turned off, the print area is indicated by a (thinner) red frame.

You can move and resize the print area by clicking on the frame and dragging the black "handles" in the corners and on the sides of the frame.  By double-clicking with the mouse, you can configure the print area frame width and color.

The print area is specific for each canvas.  This means that you can have different layouts for each canvas. 

This is a useful way to handle for example different scales (1:10,000 and 1:15,000), or different printout sizes.  If you need a small layout for the short courses, and a larger layout for the longer courses, then you can put the same map on Canvas 1 and Canvas 2, and you can define one print area on Canvas 1, which suits shorter courses, and a larger print area on Canvas 2, for the longer courses.

By default, the print area size is common for all courses on a Canvas.  However, by double-clicking on the print area frame, the Setup Print Area dialog pops up, and you can configure the print area to be specific for a given course.  This is useful if the courses are very different, but use this option with care if you have many courses.