Excel is a powerhouse program. Mastering Excel usage can make a significant difference if you frequently work with spreadsheets. Even if you know all the basics, there are still some additional tricks that can enhance your experience working in this program, such as switching sheets in Excel.
Guide on Navigating Between Sheets in Excel
Two essential shortcuts to remember are Ctrl + PgDn to switch to the sheet on the right and Ctrl + PgUp to switch to the sheet on the left. Alternatively, follow these simple steps to navigate between sheets:
- To move a sheet to the right, press and hold Ctrl, then press PgDn.
- To continue moving to the right, press PgDn again.
Here's just an example of a useful shortcut key for Excel. Discovering a few other important shortcuts can enhance your productivity. For instance, it can help you save time while navigating in Excel or performing common tasks like adjusting row height and column width in the program.
2. Navigate between sheets in Excel using the Go To command
Using the Go To command is another convenient way to switch between worksheets in Excel. You'll especially appreciate this method if you frequently deal with large Excel documents with countless rows and columns.
To navigate to a different area on the sheet using the Go To command, follow these steps:
- Open an Excel spreadsheet.
- Select Edit from the menu at the top of the screen.
- Choose the Go To... option from the drop-down menu. The Go To window will appear, allowing you to move from one place to another within your document.
- In the dialog box, enter the cell reference in the spreadsheet into the Reference field, such as C22 or H134. Then, click OK.
This will take you to the place you've chosen by moving the currently selected cell to that specific cell.
2.1. Activate Go To command using shortcut keys
A quicker way to use the Go To command in Excel is to learn the appropriate shortcuts for it. There are 2 different options here. You can press the F5 key or use the Ctrl + G combination to open the Go To window.
After starting to use the Go To command to navigate sheets in Excel, you'll notice that it also stores all your previous searches in that small window. So, you can find a list of all your previous cell references in the box above the Reference field. A useful feature if you need to jump back and forth between specific areas in your Excel document.
However, remember that this information will disappear once you close the Excel spreadsheet. So, if you think you'll need to reference a cell in the future, make sure you've saved it somewhere before exiting the document.
2.2. Switch between sheets in Excel using the Go To command
If you don't want to jump to a specific cell in another worksheet but want to open it entirely, you can also use the Go To command to do that.
To navigate sheets in Excel, follow these steps:
- Open an Excel spreadsheet.
- Open the Go To window using either the shortcut key or manually.
- In the Reference field, input the sheet name along with the cell reference as desired. For example, if you're on Sheet 2 and want to switch to Sheet 3, you'll need to input 'Sheet3 + dot + cell reference' in the Reference field, like Sheet3!B5.
The dot here serves as a separator between the Sheet name and the cell number because you can't use spaces in cell references.
- This command will take you to another sheet and move the currently selected cell to the one you've chosen. To return to the previous sheet, you repeat the entire process but change the sheet name you input in the Go To window.
3. Moving between sheets in Excel using Hyperlink
You can also navigate between sheets in Excel using hyperlinks. In Excel, there are various types of hyperlinks, and you can link to a file on your computer, a web page, or an email address.
If you want to create a hyperlink and use it to navigate between sheets, do the following:
- Select a location in the sheet (1 cell) where you want to insert the hyperlink.
- Right-click there and select Hyperlink from the drop-down menu.
- From the options in the middle of the box, click on Document.
- Scroll down to the Anchor line, find the Locate... button next to it, and click on it.
- In the newly opened window, choose the sheet you want to link to and input the cell reference where you want the hyperlink to take you.
- After pressing OK, you'll be taken back to the previous window, where you can change the text of the hyperlink you'll see in the document by entering text in the Display field.
You can delete or edit this hyperlink in the future to change its destination or appearance.
4. Moving between sheets in Excel using VBA Script
While all the methods above are great for navigating sheets in Excel, there might be situations where you need more. For example, if you're working on an Excel document with multiple spreadsheets and constantly switching between them. In that case, you can create a VBA macro or script to automate this process.
Excel enables users to automate many features and commands using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). It's a programming language that Excel uses to create macros.
4.1. VBA macro for moving right
Sub Change_Sheets_Right()
Dim SheetNum, CurrentSheet As Integer
SheetNum = Sheets.Count
CurrentSheet = ActiveSheet.Index
If CurrentSheet < sheetnum=''>
Sheets(CurrentSheet + 1).Activate
Else
Sheets(1).Select
End If
End Sub
4.2. VBA macro for moving left
Sub Change_Sheets_Left()
Dim SheetNum, CurrentSheet As Integer
SheetNum = Sheets.Count
CurrentSheet = ActiveSheet.Index
If CurrentSheet > 1 Then
Sheets(CurrentSheet - 1).Activate
Else
Sheets(SheetNum).Activate
End If
End Sub
Implement the above 2 codes in the spreadsheet to move between sheets in Excel to the right and left, one sheet at a time.
Once you've mastered the ways to navigate between sheets in Excel, you've taken a step closer to becoming a professional Excel user, saving a lot of time and effort in your work. Of course, there will always be new tips and tricks to move sheets in Excel that you can learn about this program, as well as many such as How to Filter Data between Sheets in Excel or protect Excel file with password and crack Excel sheet password when forgotten. However, automating daily workflows is the first and perhaps most important step to delve into the world of Excel.
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