How to Switch Between Worksheets in Excel

Excel is a very powerful program. If you’re someone who uses spreadsheets often,learning how to operate Excelcan make a huge difference. But even if you already know the basics, there are always a few more tricks that can improve your overall experience working in the app.

One of the handy tricks to learn is the different methods you can use to quickly switch between sheets in Excel. We’ll begin with the simple options like doing it manually and then gradually move on to other alternatives for more advanced users.

We also created ashort video tutorialfor our YouTube channel, which you can check out.

Keyboard Shortcuts To Switch Between Sheets In Excel

So you’ve got an Excel document in front of you with multiple worksheets. When you’ve got to switch between them, the obvious choice would be to do it by manually selecting a different sheet at the bottom of the workbook. However, that option might not be available.

In case you can’t use your mouse or touchpad or have a big workload and don’t waste time on that, you can switch between sheets in Excel using a keyboard shortcut.

There are two shortcuts that you’ll need to learn here:Ctrl + PgDn(page down) for moving to the sheet on the right, andCtrl + PgUp(page up) for moving to the sheet on the left. Or simply follow these steps to switch between sheets in the workbook:

That’s just one example of a useful keyboard shortcut for Excel. Learning a few more essential shortcuts can help improve your productivity. For example, it will save you time while navigating Excel, or doing such routine tasks like changing row height and column width in the program.

Use The Go To Command

Using the Go To command is another handy way of moving around your Excel worksheet. You will especially appreciate this method if you have to deal with overloaded Excel documents with lots of rows and columns on a daily basis.

In order to move to a different space of your workbook using the Go To command, follow these steps:

This will take you to the place you’ve chosen by moving the active cell box onto that specific cell.

A quicker way to use the Go To command in Excel is by learning the right keyboard shortcuts for it. There are two different options here, you can either press theF5key or use theCtrl + Gkeyboard shortcut to bring the Go To window up.

Once you start using the Go To feature, you will see that it also stores all of your previous searches in that little window. So you can find a list of all your previous cell references in the top box above theReferenceline. A useful feature if you find yourself jumping back and forth between specific areas of your Excel document.

However, remember that this information will disappear once you close your Excel workbook. So if you think you’ll need it for future reference, make sure you save it elsewhere before exiting the document.

If you don’t want to jump to a specific cell in a different worksheet, but just want to open the whole thing, you can also use the Go To command to do it.

In order to switch between sheets in your Excel workbook, follow these steps:

You can navigate around your Excel workbook and jump from one sheet to another using hyperlinks as well. In Excel, there are different hyperlink types, and you can link to an existing file on your computer, a web page, or an e-mail address.

If you want to create a hyperlink and use it to move to a different worksheet, do the following:

You can later delete or edit this hyperlink to change its destination or appearance.

Use a VBA Script to Move Between Sheets

While all of the above options are great for switching between Excel sheets, you might find yourself in a situation when you need more. For example, if you’re working with an Excel document of many worksheets and constantly need to move back and forth between them. In that case you can create a VBA macro or script to automate that process for you.

Excel allows you to automate many different features and commands using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripting. It’s the programming language that Excel uses to create macros.

If you already know a thing or two about it, then you can use macros like the following to move around your Excel workbook.

VBA Macro To Move To The Right

VBA Macro To Move To The Left

Install both codes in your workbook to be able to move in both directions, right and left one sheet at a time.

Become a Pro Excel User

You’re now one step closer to mastering Excel and saving yourself a bunch of time and effort at work at the same time. Of course, there will always be new tips and tricks that you can learn about this software.

However, automating your everyday workflow is the first and probably the most important step you can take diving into the world of Excel.

What Excel automation tips do you know and use? Share them with us in the comments section below!

Anya is a freelance technology writer. Originally from Russia, she is currently a full-time Remote Worker and Digital Nomad. With a background in Journalism, Language Studies, and Technical Translation, Anya couldn’t imagine her life and work without using modern technology on a daily basis. Always looking out for new ways to make her life and location-independent lifestyle easier, she hopes to share her experiences as a tech- and internet-addict through her writing.Read Anya’s Full Bio

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