How to switch between worksheets in Excel

Posted on August 2, 2008 at 5:29 am

Make sure to read other posts from the Excel Tips series!

  1. How to switch between worksheets in Excel
  2. How to make a graph on excel
  3. Microsoft Word: AutoText and AutoCorrect
  4. Master Excel Tables with AutoFilter and Subtotal
  5. How to add comments to an Excel Worksheet cell
  6. MS Excel Tips and Tricks – How to count things in Excel

A number of people in my office have been asking me how they can easily switch between worksheets in Excel using their keyboards rather than having to click on an individual sheet!

This may sound lazy to someone who does not use Excel very often, but when you’re a manager and have an Excel spreadsheet in front of you with 50 tabs, that little mouse pointer can start to be a real pain!

Anyway, it’s always good to know shortcuts if you can…I’ve been in the situation numerous times where my touch pad died and I didn’t have a mouse on me! Knowing some slick keyboard shortcuts can make the difference between getting some work done or putting your computer into StandBy mode.

For a good shortcut to know, check out my article on how to switch between tabs in IE.

Switch between worksheets in Excel

excel switch tabs

Ok so in order to move through sheets in Excel using the keyboard, simply press CTRL and the PgUp or PgDn buttons! That’s it…it’s super easy, but for some reason not easily found in any of the keyboard shortcuts lists provided by Microsoft.

That’s one of my favorite shortcut keys in Excel, but there are several other ones also, which you might find useful:

CTRL + ; – Enters the current date into the active cell

CTRL + A – Selects the entire worksheet

ALT+F1 – Creates a chart of the data in the current range

SHIFT+F3 – displays the Insert Function dialog box

SHIFT+F11 – Inserts a new worksheet

CTRL+HOME – Moves to the beginning of a worksheet

CTRL+SPACEBAR – Selects an entire column in a worksheet

SHIFT+SPACEBAR – Selects an entire row in a worksheet

You can also check out my other posts on keyboard shortcuts, including how to right-click using the keyboard, Windows Logo key shortcuts, essential Microsoft Word shortcuts, Internet Explorer shortcuts.

Anything other shortcut you would to know about Excel? Post a comment and I’ll try to get you the info! Enjoy!

» Filed Under MS Office Tips

Related Posts

Comments

30 Responses to “How to switch between worksheets in Excel”

  1. Yusuf Kaydawala said on : August 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    Thanks !!

    I am looking forward for more keyboard shortcuts.


  2. John said on : October 26th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Ctrl PageUp/PageDn does not move between worksheets for me. All it does is take me to the very bottom or top of the sheet I am in?


  3. Nitin Bansal said on : February 26th, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    The shortcut tips are wonderful. There is a tip given for inserting a new sheet in excel using keyboard but the shortcut to delete a sheet using keyboard is not given. Please include that as well.


  4. Alex said on : July 14th, 2009 at 6:27 am

    If you right-click on the sheet navigation buttons (the first sheet, previous sheet, next sheet, last sheet buttons next to the sheet names) then a list of the sheets appears and you can select the sheet by name.


  5. Rob said on : August 5th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    Thanks for the help, this was driving me nuts. While I was checking this and the other ones I didn’t know out, I found tat Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar selects the entire range of continuous cells which is nice if you do a lot of pivot table work or macro’s that copy data back and forth to different sheets.


  6. Armizi said on : August 9th, 2009 at 1:29 am

    Wonderful :)


  7. Vijayalakshmi said on : October 6th, 2009 at 8:25 pm

    Once the column or row is been selected, we can use CTRL + to add new column or row. To paste the same formula or values for range of cells, select the cells using CTRL SHIFT DOWN ARROW and then use CTRL D


  8. guru said on : October 25th, 2009 at 3:22 am

    Really its very very useful for people who use Excel often.

    Thanks a lot and I appreciate your help.


  9. Audit Slave said on : November 11th, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Yessss!!!

    Thank you so much! I’ve been trying to figure this out for ages.. and usually too lazy to try to wade through the help wizard.

    Bravo, my good man, bravo.


  10. Shreekant P said on : November 12th, 2009 at 5:33 am

    Thanks for the wonderful tip !


  11. kiru said on : December 26th, 2009 at 7:51 am

    how to switch between dialogue box and excel worksheet without using mouse for example: i do vlookup from selecting insert funtion a dialogue box appears i need to go to target cell without clicking mouse.


  12. yes said on : February 3rd, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Wonderful Excel tip! So much easier to switch between sheets this way.


  13. Amanda said on : March 1st, 2010 at 6:00 pm

    Thank you. I’ve made myself a table that allows me to stand up and work but I didn’t make it big enough for the mouse, just the keyboard. I saw somewhere else that said hold cap & something. Yours works though. Thanks again.


  14. Nora said on : March 8th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    I’ve been using Excel for 5 years ago and I still am learning new things everyday! What an amazing program! Thanks for the shortcut tip.


  15. kiru said on : March 8th, 2010 at 11:23 pm

    i was not looking for this i didnt get the correct answer “not switching between worksheets i need shortcut key to switch between a dialog box and and worksheet area


  16. Shauna said on : April 16th, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    thank you! couldnt find this on the MS site or in any documentation either.


  17. manit said on : May 4th, 2010 at 5:13 am

    thanks a lot for these shortcut commands in Excel!


  18. kapil said on : May 14th, 2010 at 2:51 am

    thanks very much, this was a great help in learning Excel!


  19. Bose said on : June 9th, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Thanks man, such a nice Excel tip!


  20. Bowman said on : June 10th, 2010 at 1:02 am

    - That’s quite helpful. But I have another question: when I would like to switch back and forward between 2 worksheets (not necessary in consecutive position, eg. Sheet 1 and sheet 20), which shortcut I should use?


  21. Luckylooke said on : June 16th, 2010 at 3:22 am

    Same problem as Bowman, I need switching to last opened worksheet. And even provided shortcuts are not very handy beacuse CTRL and the PgUp or PgDn buttons I cant push them with one hand so I have to release mouse all the time.


  22. rao shams said on : June 16th, 2010 at 8:43 am

    dear, thanks a lot for this useful Excel tutorial. I have a 100 worksheets and was going mad using the mouse.


  23. Pom said on : July 14th, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    To switch between 2 workbooks use Ctrl + Tab. It is basically Alt + Tab, but for open workbooks rather than programs.

    Hope that helps!


  24. Shane said on : August 30th, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    I do have the same question that Bowman has. I tried out several things, but did not work yet. Moving to the last worksheet if you are on the first one is something I am looking for. I use GoTo function for this, but it can’t be considered as a shortcut. Let me know if someone can help with this. Thanks!


  25. Raji said on : September 2nd, 2010 at 8:16 am

    This is very useful, thanks!


  26. Shajid said on : September 8th, 2010 at 2:15 am

    Thanks a lot for the awesome Excel tip!


  27. hartesh said on : October 25th, 2010 at 4:56 am

    Hello, this proved to be very helpful, even for a seasoned Excel user!


  28. vino said on : July 14th, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    Thank you, very useful.


  29. Liew said on : August 9th, 2011 at 12:06 am

    Yes, I love the worksheet navigation shortcut, is fun and efficient!


  30. Stephen in Canberra said on : September 12th, 2011 at 10:51 pm

    this is great, thank you computer guy. I found your website by Googling EXCEL WORKSHEETS SWITCH because I really wanted a shortcut for moving between worksheets and couldn’t believe one didn’t exist, but couldn’t find it in the Excel Help. I tried all your shortcuts and most of them work on my Mac (including the CTRL-PAGE UP and CTRL-PAGE DOWN)

    While experimenting I also found that:
    CTRL+END – Moves to the last cell of a worksheet
    CMD+; – Inserts the current time (cf CTRL+; for current date)

    All best — Stephen


Please post your comments/suggestions!