Microsoft Office

Part I
Getting Started with Excel
Changing the Number of Sheets in Your Workbooks
By default, Excel automatically creates three worksheets in each new workbook. You can change this
default behavior. For example, I prefer to start each new workbook with a single worksheet. After all, you
can easily add new sheets if and when they’re needed. To change the default number of worksheets:
1. Choose Office ➪ Excel Options to display the Excel Options dialog box.
2. In the Excel Options dialog box, click the Popular tab.
3. Change the value for the Include This Many Sheets setting and click OK.
Making this change affects all new workbooks but has no effect on existing workbooks.
Changing the name of a worksheet
The default names Excel uses for worksheets — Sheet1, Sheet2, and so on — aren’t very descriptive. If you
don’t change the worksheet names, remembering where to find things in multiple-sheet workbooks can be
a bit difficult. That’s why providing more meaningful names for your worksheets is often a good idea.
To change a sheet’s name, double-click the sheet tab. Excel highlights the name on the sheet tab so that you
can edit the name or replace it with a new name.
Sheet names can be up to 31 characters, and spaces are allowed. However, you can’t use the following characters
in sheet names:
: colon
/ slash
\ backslash
? question mark
* asterisk
Keep in mind that a longer worksheet name results in a wider tab, which takes up more space on-screen.
Therefore, if you use lengthy sheet names, you won’t be able to see very many sheet tabs without scrolling
the tab list.
Changing a sheet tab’s color
Excel allows you to change the color of your worksheet tabs. For example, you may prefer to color-code the
sheet tabs to make identifying the worksheet’s contents easier.
To change the color of a sheet tab, right-click the tab and choose Tab Color. Then select the color from the
color selector box.
Rearranging your worksheets
You may want to rearrange the order of worksheets in a workbook. If you have a separate worksheet for
each sales region, for example, arranging the worksheets in alphabetical order or by total sales may be helpful.
You may want to move a worksheet from one workbook to another. (To move a worksheet to a different
workbook, both workbooks must be open.) You can also create copies of worksheets.
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