switching between tabs (worksheets) in Microsoft Excel
It’s been annoying me for a long time that Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab don’t switch between worksheets in the currently open workbook in Excel. I haven’t dealt with changing it yet, but at least found what the existing keyboard shortcuts are.
Found this in:
Help | Microsoft Excel Help
then:
Contents | Accessibility in Excel | Keyboard shortcuts
under section: Keys for workbooks and worksheets
expand: Work with worksheets
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March 7th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Thanks
June 21st, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Thank you - it was my biggest pet peave!
October 31st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
My quest is finally complete. I’ve probably been looking on and off for an answer to this for 3 years now. Thank you.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I wonder what their reasoning for doing it that was was.
December 1st, 2007 at 1:41 am
I don’t know, but I actually find myself using Ctrl-PageUp and Ctrl-PageDn to switch tabs in Firefox, sometimes. I usually use Ctrl-Tab or Ctrl-Shift-Tab, but sometimes I catch myself using the aforementioned MS Excel tab-switching keyboard shortcuts. It’s cool that Firefox supports both methods!
December 1st, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I didn’t even know those were Firefox tab-siwtching keys! If you have both hands on the keyboard, it’s definitely less muscle strain to do that (Sort of like how alt-shif-tab is best with left-alt, right-shift, left-tab — less hand contortion) (though I still have no problem doing the FOUR-key photoshop export ctrl-alt-shift-s with 1 hand — it’s demented but I’ve done it so much).
But nowadays, i just use the side-buttons on my mouse to change tabs! It’s awesome. With 1 hand on the mouse ONLY, i can switch tabs, change zoom, scroll BOTH directions (scrollwheel lets you push it sideways)…
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Thanks Dave, good job.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Aaaaahhhhh…Many thanks!
February 4th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Yes Dave, Yes. You’ve saved me many wasted milliseconds spent reaching for the mouse (which I have already wasted by writing this note).
February 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Dude you rock! I have been wondering how to do that for a long long time…..and to think it was that simple! Thanks!
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
when i do ctrl + pg up or down it just moves the cursor from the top to the very bottom. help? using ms excel on pc.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
@jon.e.:
I’m not sure why those keys would be behaving differently for you. At first I thought maybe you were using a different version of Microsoft Office, so I did a little research.
It seems that the Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn keyboard shortcuts have been the same in at least Microsoft Office 2000 through 2007, so that doesn’t seem to be the problem.
Ctrl-Home takes you to the first (top left) cell in the current worksheet, and Ctrl-End takes you to the last (bottom right) cell in the current worksheet. That sounds similar to what you described. Are you sure you didn’t hit those keys by mistake?
March 19th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Not a comment but it is noted that this is a respected site.
I have a problem that I cannot find solution for on any site … so …
Excel 2007 and fully up to date.
When I ‘protect’ worksheet so only unlocked cells are accessable, Ctrl+Home will not work, and neither will Ctrl+End. You can move to any of the unlocked cells via enter, arrow keys or mouse and edit in them but Ctrl+Home will not take you to the first unlocked cell.
Any thoughts?
Thank you.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Finally…thanks a million Dave! ;)
May 30th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you for publishing this - been annoying me for years!
June 13th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Thank you thankyou thankyou! i have been searching this for months!
June 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Like a lot of people, I have long ago become a keyboard shortcut fan…I am not clear why MS kept this task 9switching between worksheets) such a secret.
Thx for finding/publishing it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
great shout - you come up no. 1 in google for the search “flicking between worksheets” - it’s a random query but glad someone’s covered it
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:57 am
ha! thanks!
been looking for that for quite a while…it always led me to microsoft stupid training
cheers!
September 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Thanks a ton!
November 21st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Thanks! I was looking for this short-cut, but couldnt find it on the MS office online help.
November 25th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
great tip!!! thank you!!!