Simultaneous Scrolling

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

If you have worksheets that are very similar in nature, you may like to work with them side-by-side on the screen at the same time. This makes it easy to examine both worksheets for differences or for other reasons. It can be a bother, however, to scroll down at the same rate in both worksheets. First you have to scroll in one window, then in the other.

As with most tedious tasks, you can automate the process a bit. Consider the following macros:

Sub myScrollDown()
    ActiveWindow.SmallScroll Down:=1
    ActiveWindow.ActivateNext
    ActiveWindow.SmallScroll Down:=1
    ActiveWindow.ActivatePrevious
End Sub
Sub myScrollUp()
    ActiveWindow.SmallScroll Up:=1
    ActiveWindow.ActivateNext
    ActiveWindow.SmallScroll Up:=1
    ActiveWindow.ActivatePrevious
End Sub

If you add these to a workbook, and then assign them to a toolbar button or a shortcut key, you can scroll through both workbooks at the same rate. The SmallScroll method is used to move down one row at a time through a window. If you want to scroll a page at a time, simply replace all instances of SmallScroll with the LargeScroll method.

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 (1979) 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

Special Differences when Searching

Word includes two different search engines. Which search engine you choose to use will dictate what Word shows as ...

Discover More

Getting Information About Fields

Want to know what a certain field does and how to use it? Word's online help is surprisingly helpful in getting the ...

Discover More

PivotTables for the Faint of Heart (Special Offer)

PivotTables for the Faint of Heart shows you how to condense huge amounts of data so you can make sense of it. ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Selecting the First Cell In a Row

When creating macros, you'll often have a need to select different cells in the worksheet. Here's how to select the first ...

Discover More

Determining If a Number is Odd or Even

If you need to know whether a particular value is odd or even, you can use this simple formula. Designed to be used in a ...

Discover More

Finding the Last-Used Cell in a Macro

Ever wonder what the macro-oriented equivalent of pressing Ctrl+End is? Here's the code and some caveats on using it.

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.

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 8 - 5?

2020-08-08 13:48:18

Ron S MVP

Web searches often find this "obsolete" article. It would not hurt to have a link to an updated version of this article, especially since the ribbon uses a synonym of simultaneous for the command, ie

Sychronous Scrolling (ribbon)
In View tab > Window group there are commands for “View Side by Side” and after that is enabled “Sychronous Scrolling”


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.