Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 12, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When you are starting a new workbook, it is very common to name each worksheet after a different day of the month. If you do this quite a bit, you know it can be tiresome to rename each worksheet, in turn, to exactly what you need.
The following macro was developed to help in these situations. It checks the names of the worksheets in your workbook, renaming them to the days of the month if they begin with the letters "Sheet". If there are not enough sheets in the workbook, it adds sheets, as necessary, for each day of the month.
Sub DoDays() Dim J As Integer Dim K As Integer Dim sDay As String Dim sTemp As String Dim iTarget As Integer Dim dBasis As Date iTarget = 13 While (iTarget < 1) Or (iTarget > 12) iTarget = Val(InputBox("Numeric month?")) If iTarget = 0 Then Exit Sub Wend Application.ScreenUpdating = False sTemp = Str(iTarget) & "/1/" & Year(Now()) dBasis = CDate(sTemp) For J = 1 To 31 sDay = Format((dBasis + J - 1), "dddd mm-dd-yyyy") If Month(dBasis + J - 1) = iTarget Then If J <= Sheets.Count Then If Left(Sheets(J).Name, 5) = "Sheet" Then Sheets(J).Name = sDay Else Sheets.Add.Move after:=Sheets(Sheets.Count) ActiveSheet.Name = sDay End If Else Sheets.Add.Move after:=Sheets(Sheets.Count) ActiveSheet.Name = sDay End If End If Next J For J = 1 To (Sheets.Count - 1) For K = J + 1 To Sheets.Count If Right(Sheets(J).Name, 10) > _ Right(Sheets(K).Name, 10) Then Sheets(K).Move Before:=Sheets(J) End If Next K Next J Sheets(1).Activate Application.ScreenUpdating = True End Sub
The macro sets each tab name equal to the day of the week followed by the actual date, as in "Wednesday 03-28-2012." If you want to change the way that the tabs are named for each day, just change how the sDay variable is constructed in the macro.
The last step in the macro is that it places the worksheets in proper order, based on the days of the month. The result is that if you have any other worksheets left in the workbook (in other words, you had some that did not begin with the letters "Sheet," then those worksheets end up at the end of the workbook, after the sheets for each day.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2836) 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: Sheets for Days.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!
Need a worksheet's name to change based on the contents of a cell? You'll need to rely on a macro to do the changing, but ...
Discover MoreNeed to set up a workbook that includes a worksheet for each week of the year? Here's a couple of quick macros that can ...
Discover MoreWant to grab the names of all the worksheets in a workbook? Here's how you can stuff all those names into the cells of a ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
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 © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments