Opening a Workbook to a Specific Worksheet

Summary: When you open a workbook, Excel displays the worksheet that was visible when the workbook was last saved. You may want, instead, for the workbook to always display a specific worksheet when it is opened. Here's how to do it. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Marcus wonders if it is possible to somehow configure a workbook so that it opens on the same worksheet tab each time it is opened, rather than on the worksheet tab that was displayed when the workbook was last saved. The short answer is that you can do this—provided you use a macro. (There is no way to do it without a macro.)

There are two ways you can set up your macro. First, you can use a traditional Auto_Open macro that is automatically run whenever a workbook is opened:

Sub Auto_Open()
    Sheets("OpenToThisSheet").Select
End Sub

All you need to do is replace OpenToThisSheet with the name of the worksheet you want displayed when the workbook opens. A similar approach is to create a Workbook_Open event handler:

Sub Workbook_Open()
    ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("OpenToThisSheet").Activate
End Sub

Again, change the sheet name to reflect the name of the actual sheet you want displayed. This event handler should be added as part of the ThisWorkbook module.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3877) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Opening a Workbook to a Specific Worksheet