Increasing Font Size In Worksheet Tabs

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 18, 2018)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Many Excel users have problems with the size of font used to display names in the worksheet tabs used by Excel. Unfortunately, there is no way to change the font size within Excel, itself. This is because Excel relies on settings within Windows itself to control how worksheet tabs are displayed. They are considered part of the horizontal scroll bar used by Excel. Fortunately, Windows allows you to increase the size of your scroll bars. By doing so, you increase the size of Excel's worksheet tabs.

You change the size of scroll bars by following these steps:

  1. Get out of Excel. (You don't perform these steps within Excel, remember?)
  2. Right-click anywhere on the desktop. Windows displays a Context menu.
  3. Choose Properties from the Context menu. You will see the Display Properties dialog box.
  4. Make sure the Appearance tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    5. Figure 1. The Appearance tab of the Display Properties dialog box.

  5. In the Item drop-down list, select Scrollbar. (You can also choose the Scrollbar item simply by clicking the vertical scroll bar in the image at the top of the Display Properties dialog box.)
  6. Increase the value in the Size text box, just to the right of the Item drop-down list. Try a value that is only two or three greater than the value already there.
  7. Click on OK to close the Display Properties dialog box.

Jump back into Excel and check the size of the worksheet tabs. You can repeat these steps, as necessary, until you get just the right look. Understand, however, that you are modifying Windows' configuration information, not Excel's. This means that your changes will also affect other programs you use, not just Excel.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2690) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Embossing Text

Word can make your text look as if it has been embossed on the page.

Discover More

Formatting Multiple Documents

Need to format a bunch of documents so they all look the same? If the documents use styles, doing the formatting is ...

Discover More

Putting Amounts in Month Columns

Sometimes putting together a formula can be a challenge. Part of the process, though, is examining the data with which ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Naming Tabs for Weeks

Need to set up a workbook that includes a worksheet for each week of the year? Here's a couple of quick macros that can ...

Discover More

Getting the Name of the Worksheet Into a Cell

Excel allows you to change the names assigned to the worksheets in a workbook. If you want to have those names appear in ...

Discover More

Referencing Worksheet Tabs

Ever want to use the name of a worksheet tab within a cell? Here's how you can access that information using the CELL ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 5?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.