Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
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:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1979) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
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!
Need to know how many characters there are in a workbook? You can find out easily with the handy macro introduced in this ...
Discover MoreIf 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 MoreIf someone sends you a worksheet that has lots of data in it, you might want to "spread out" the data so you can have ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
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”
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments