Changing Horizontal Orientation

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 2, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2002 and 2003


For those who use Excel 2002 or Excel 2003 in an international environment, you may be interested in knowing that you can change the horizontal orientation of a worksheet. Normally cell A1 is in the upper-left corner of the worksheet, but you can configure Excel so that cell A1 is in the upper-right corner of any worksheets you create. Follow these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the International tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The International tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. Near the bottom of the dialog box, choose the Right-to-Left radio button.
  5. Click on OK.

The change doesn't affect the workbook you have open, but it does affect any new workbooks you create.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3038) applies to Microsoft Excel 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Relative Worksheet References

Copy a formula from one place to another and Excel helpfully adjusts the cell references within the formula. That is, it ...

Discover More

Moving Text without Affecting the Clipboard

Want a quick and easy way to move text (or other document elements) from one place to another in your document? Check out ...

Discover More

Reading View in Office 365

Word provides a plethora of ways you can view your document. This tip looks at one of those views (Reading view) and ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Viewing More than Two Places in a Worksheet

If your worksheet gets big enough, it is easy to spend a lot of time navigating back and forth between different areas. ...

Discover More

Identifying Merged Cells

Merging cells is a common task when creating worksheets. Merged cells can play havoc with the normal functioning of some ...

Discover More

Weird Actions for Arrow Keys and Enter

If your arrow keys and the Enter key aren't working as you expect them to, the problem could have any number of causes. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is seven more than 6?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.