Creating and Naming a Worksheet Using a Macro

Jeff would like to create a copy of his "master" worksheet, prompt for a name of the new worksheet, and move it to the end of the worksheet tabs, all from within a macro. He tried to record a macro to do this, but it didn't work.

The fact that the recorded macro didn't work isn't terribly surprising. When you record a macro, you tell Excel to record the steps you take. Those steps (in this instance) included the naming of the worksheet, so that name was recorded in the macro. Try to run the macro a second time, and you will get an error because the worksheet you are trying to create on the second pass was already created on the first.

In this case you have to write a macro manually. You can start with recording the process, and you will get a code like the following:

Sub Macro1()
    Sheets("Master").Select
    Sheets("Master").Copy After:=Sheets(3)
    Sheets("Master (2)").Select
    Sheets("Master (2)").Name = "NewMaster"
End Sub

Note that the code places the worksheet (after the third sheet) and then always names it the same thing. There's a lot to change here. What you want to do is change it to something like the following:

Sub CopyRename()
    Dim sName As String
    Dim wks As Worksheet
    Worksheets("Master").Copy after:=Sheets(Worksheets.Count)
    Set wks = ActiveSheet
    Do While sName <> wks.Name
        sName = Application.InputBox _
          (Prompt:="Enter new worksheet name")
        On Error Resume Next
        wks.Name = sName
        On Error GoTo 0
    Loop
    Set wks = Nothing
End Sub

This macro will copy the worksheet named "Master" to the end of sheet list (no matter how many sheets you have in the workbook) and continue to prompt for a new worksheet name until a valid name is entered.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3898) 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: Creating and Naming a Worksheet Using a Macro.