Naming worksheets

At the beginning of this course, we learned that the tabs displayed at the bottom of the screen are named Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. These are not very informative names. Excel XP allows you to define a meaningful name for each worksheet in a workbook—Checkbook, Reports, Accounts, etc.—so you can quickly locate information.

To name a worksheet:

• Double-click the sheet tab to select it. The text is highlighted by a black box.
  
  
• Type a new name for the worksheet.
  
  
• Press the Enter key.
• The worksheet is renamed.

Inserting worksheets

By default, each new workbook in Excel XP defaults to three worksheets named Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. You have the ability to insert new worksheets if needed or delete others you no longer want.

To insert a new worksheet:

• Choose InsertWorksheet from the menu bar.
  
  
• A new worksheet tab is added to the bottom of the screen. It will be named Sheet4, Sheet5, or whatever the next sequential sheet number is in the workbook.

Deleting worksheets

Any worksheet can be deleted from a workbook, including those that have data in it. Remember, a workbook must contain at least one worksheet.

To delete one or more worksheets:

• Click the sheet(s) you want to delete.
• Choose EditDelete Sheet from the menu bar.
  
  
• The following dialog box appears if the sheet being deleted has information in it.
  
  
• Click the Delete button to remove the worksheet and all data in it.

Another way to delete or insert a worksheet is to right-click the sheet to be deleted, then select Delete or Insert from the shortcut menu.

Grouping and ungrouping worksheets

A workbook is a multi-page Excel document that contains multiple worksheets. Sometimes you will want to work with the worksheets one at a time as if each is a single unit. Other times, the same information or formatting may need to be added to every worksheet. You can type and retype the same information in each worksheet and apply identical formatting, or you can group the worksheet and enter the information just once.

Worksheets can also be combined into a group. Grouping worksheets allows you to apply identical formulas and/or formatting across all worksheets in a group. When you group worksheets, any changes made to one worksheet will be changed in any other worksheets in the group. If several worksheets will have the same data—regions, departments, quarters, months, weeks, and days, for example—then you type it once and it will appear on every worksheet included in the grouping.

To group worksheets:

• To select one worksheet, click the sheet tab.
• To select more than one worksheet, hold the Control key down and click one or more worksheet tabs in the workbook.
• To select all worksheets in a workbook, right-click any worksheet tab and choose Select All Sheets from the shortcut menu.

When you're finished entering, moving, copying, or formatting data, you'll need to ungroup worksheets. If you do not ungroup the sheets, any work you do in one sheet will be duplicated in all of the others.

To ungroup worksheets:

• Right-click any of the selected worksheet tabs.
• Choose Ungroup Sheets from the shortcut menu.

Moving worksheets

When you move a sheet, you are moving it to a new location in this or another workbook.

To move a workbook:

• Select the worksheet you want to move or copy.
• Choose EditMove or Copy from the menu bar.
  
  
• In the Move or Copy dialog box, use the drop-down boxes to select the name of the workbook you will move the sheet to (the current workbook is the default). Also define where you want the sheet positioned in the workbook.
  
  
• Check Create a copy to copy it.
• Click OK to move the worksheet to its new location.

Copying worksheets

When you copy a sheet, you make an exact copy of it.

To copy a worksheet:

• Select the worksheet you want to move or copy.
• Choose EditMove or Copy from the menu bar.
• In the Move or Copy dialog box, use the drop-down boxes to select the name of the workbook you will copy the sheet to (the current workbook is the default). Also define where you want the sheet positioned in the workbook.
• Click the Create a copy check box.
  
  
• Click OK to create an exact copy of the worksheet and move it to the location specified.

Challenge!

• Rename Sheet1 to Mary, Sheet2 to Bob, and Sheet3 to Sally.
• Insert a worksheet between the Mary worksheet and the Bob worksheet. Name the new worksheet Donna.
• Move the new worksheet named Donna to the left of the worksheet named Mary.
• Copy the worksheet named Mary and move it to the end so it appears after the worksheet named Sally. Rename the copied worksheet from Mary(2) to Bill.