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: Ordering Worksheets Based on a Cell Value.
Other issues of ExcelTips have provided ways that you can sort the worksheets in your workbook based on the worksheet name. What if you want to sort the worksheets based on a value in a given cell of each worksheet, however? For instance, you may have a series of worksheets that share the same general layout, and you want the worksheets ordered based on the value in cell H7 of each worksheet.
The only way to handle this is with a macro. The macro needs to step through each worksheet in the workbook, and then examine the key cell in each subsequent worksheet to see how it compares. If the cell value is less than the current worksheet, then the worksheet that contains the lesser value can be moved.
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: 
Sub SortWksByCell()
Dim i As Integer
Dim j As Integer
For i = 1 To Worksheets.Count
For j = i To Worksheets.Count
If UCase(Worksheets(j).Range("H7")) < _
UCase(Worksheets(i).Range("H7")) Then
Worksheets(j).Move Before:=Worksheets(i)
End If
Next
Next
End Sub
Note the use of the Move method, which does the actual movement of the worksheets. The names of the worksheets don't matter, only their positioning based on the value in cell H7 of each worksheet.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2890) 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: Ordering Worksheets Based on a Cell Value.
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2016-03-29 11:16:53
Dave
Can this be modified to use the worksheet name? For instance if the worksheets are named with ticket numbers couldn't you use
If sheets(j).name < sheets(i).name then
sheets(j).move before:=sheets(i)
or doesn't excel see number in the tab name value?
I may have to try this on some dummy excel files; just in case everything goes kerflooey when I run it.
2015-04-19 18:54:01
Keiran
Sara try this:
Sub SortSheetsByCellValue()
Dim sh As Worksheet, i As Long
For i = 1 To Sheets.Count
For j = i + 1 To Sheets.Count
If Sheets(j).Range("V5").Value < Sheets(i).Range("V5").Value Then _
Sheets(j).Move before:=Sheets(i)
Next j
Next i
End Sub
2015-02-19 12:58:35
Sara
This seems to order the sheets like 1, 11, 2, 21, 3, etc. Is there a way to make it 1, 2, 3, 11, 21 etc? Thank you!
2014-12-18 06:41:14
Deepak Jha
Thanks Allen!
2013-11-18 00:38:40
Thank you very much, this is what I searched.Perfect.
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