Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Ordering Worksheets Based on a Cell Value.

Ordering Worksheets Based on a Cell Value

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 27, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Other issues of ExcelTips have provided ways that you can sort the worksheets in your workbook based on the worksheet name. What if you want to sort the worksheets based on a value in a given cell of each worksheet, however? For instance, you may have a series of worksheets that share the same general layout, and you want the worksheets ordered based on the value in cell H7 of each worksheet.

The only way to handle this is with a macro. The macro needs to step through each worksheet in the workbook, and then examine the key cell in each subsequent worksheet to see how it compares. If the cell value is less than the current worksheet, then the worksheet that contains the lesser value can be moved.

Sub SortWksByCell()
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim j As Integer

    For i = 1 To Worksheets.Count
        For j = i To Worksheets.Count
            If UCase(Worksheets(j).Range("H7")) < _
              UCase(Worksheets(i).Range("H7")) Then
                Worksheets(j).Move Before:=Worksheets(i)
            End If
        Next
    Next
End Sub

Note the use of the Move method, which does the actual movement of the worksheets. The names of the worksheets don't matter, only their positioning based on the value in cell H7 of each worksheet.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2890) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Ordering Worksheets Based on a Cell Value.

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. ...

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