MS-Excel / General Formatting

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Handling the Worksheets in a Workbook

As a glance at the bottom of the worksheet tells you, each workbook comes with three worksheets named - not very creatively - Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. Follow these instructions to move among worksheets or to add, delete, rename and change the order of worksheets:

Moving among worksheets:
To go from one worksheet to another, click a worksheet tab along the bottom of the screen. If you can't see a tab, click one of the scroll arrows to the left of the worksheet tabs.

Renaming a worksheet:
Right-click the worksheet tab, choose Rename on the shortcut menu, type a new name, and press Enter. You can also click the Format button on the Home tab, choose Rename Sheet on the drop-down list, and enter a new name. Spaces are allowed in names, and names can be 31 characters long. Brackets ([]) are allowed in names, but you can't use these symbols: / \ : ? and *.

Selecting worksheets:
Click the worksheet's tab to select it. To select several worksheets, Ctrl+click their tabs or click the first tab and then Shift+click the last tab in the set. To select all the worksheets, right-click a tab and choose Select All Sheets on the shortcut menu.

Rearranging worksheets:
Drag the worksheet tab to a new location. As you drag, a tiny black arrow and a page icon appear to show you where the worksheet will land after you release the mouse button. You can also select a sheet, click the Format button on the Home tab, and choose Move or Copy Sheet on the drop-down list. The Move or Copy dialog box appears. Click the sheet in the Before Sheet list where you want the worksheet to go and click OK.

Inserting a new worksheet:
On the Home tab, open the drop-down list on the Insert button and choose Insert Sheet; click the Insert Sheet button (you can find it to the right of the worksheet tabs); or press Shift+F11.

Deleting a worksheet:
Select the sheet, and on the Home tab, open the drop-down list on the Delete button and choose Delete Sheet. You can also right-click a worksheet tab and choose Delete.

Copying a worksheet:
Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the worksheet tab to a new location.

Color-coding a worksheet:
Right-click a worksheet tab and choose Tab Color. Then select a color on the submenu, or choose More Colors and select a color in the Colors dialog box. You can also select a worksheet tab, click the Format button on the Home tab, choose Tab Color on the drop-down list, and choose a color on the submenu.

You can change the size of columns or apply numeric formats to the same addresses in different worksheets by selecting all the sheets first and then formatting one worksheet. The formats apply to all the worksheets that you select. Being able to format several different worksheets simultaneously comes in handy, for example, when your workbook tracks monthly data and each worksheet pertains to one month. Of course, another way to handle worksheets with similar data is to create the first worksheet and copy it to the second, third, and fourth worksheets with the Copy and Paste commands.