Increasing Font Size In Worksheet Tabs

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 8, 2024)
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. ...

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