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.

  3. Near the bottom of the dialog box, choose the Right-to-Left radio button.
  4. 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

Zooming with the Keyboard

Want to zoom in and out without the need to use the mouse? You can create your own handy macros that do the zooming for you.

Discover More

Stopping Worksheets from being Reprotected

Securing worksheets and workbooks is a big concern for many people. If you password-protect a worksheet, you expect that ...

Discover More

Creating a List of Files in a Directory

Do you need a list of all the files in a directory? It's easy to create if you use the proper command-line commands.

Discover More

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!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Changing Your Name

One of the many pieces of information that Excel keeps track of is your name. If you want to change your name for Excel's ...

Discover More

Canceling a Command

Need to cancel a command you've already started? It is as easy as pressing a single keystroke.

Discover More

Dividing Values

When working with large numbers, you may need a way to quickly divide a range of those numbers by a specific value. ...

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.

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

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 9 - 8?

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.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.