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: Picking Worksheets Quickly.

Picking Worksheets Quickly

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 28, 2026)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


An Excel workbook can contain almost any number of worksheets, and the tabs for those worksheets are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Everyone knows that if the tabs can't all fit across the bottom of the screen, you can use the navigation buttons in the bottom-left screen corner to scroll through the worksheet tabs.

What you may not know is that Excel provides a cool way to pick a worksheet if you can't see its tab on the screen. (Hmmm; do I scroll left or right? How far do I need to go?) All you need to do is right-click on the navigation buttons. (The navigation buttons appear just to the left of the worksheet tabs.) Excel displays a Context menu that lists all your worksheets. Just pick the one you want, and off you go—no need to worry about which way to scroll!

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2144) 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: Picking Worksheets Quickly.

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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