Making Multiple Worksheet Copies

Jennifer frequently has to create copies of worksheets once she has the first worksheet of a workbook set up, and it's usually a good number of copies. For instance, it is not unusual for her to need to create 20 copies of a particular worksheet. She wonders if there is a way to easily make multiple copies. Right-clicking and using the move/copy feature gets rather tiresome after a while.

There is a way to use the move/copy option a bit more efficiently. Let's say, for instance, that you want to create 20 worksheets from your original one. You could follow these steps:

1. Make sure your single worksheet is selected.
2. Right-click the worksheet tab. Excel displays a Context menu.
3. Choose Move or Copy from the Context menu. Excel displays the Move or Copy dialog box.
4. Select the (move to end) option.
5. Make sure the Create a Copy check box is selected.
6. Click on OK. You now have two copies of your worksheet (the original and the copy you just made).
7. Select both worksheets by clicking on the first worksheet tab and holding down the Shift key as you click on the last worksheet tab.
8. Right-click the selected worksheet tabs. Excel displays a Context menu.
9. Choose Move or Copy from the Context menu. Excel displays the Move or Copy dialog box.
10. Select the (move to end) option.
11. Make sure the Create a Copy check box is selected.
12. Click on OK. You now have four copies of your worksheet.
13. Select all the worksheets by clicking on the first worksheet tab and holding down the Shift key as you click on the last worksheet tab.
14. Right-click the selected worksheet tabs. Excel displays a Context menu.
15. Choose Move or Copy from the Context menu. Excel displays the Move or Copy dialog box.
16. Select the (move to end) option.
17. Make sure the Create a Copy check box is selected.
18. Click on OK. You now have eight copies of your worksheet.
19. Select all the worksheets by clicking on the first worksheet tab and holding down the Shift key as you click on the last worksheet tab.
20. Right-click the selected worksheet tabs. Excel displays a Context menu.
21. Choose Move or Copy from the Context menu. Excel displays the Move or Copy dialog box.
22. Select the (move to end) option.
23. Make sure the Create a Copy check box is selected.
24. Click on OK. You now have 16 copies of your worksheet.
25. Select four of your worksheets by clicking on the first worksheet tab and holding down the Shift key as you click on the fourth worksheet tab.
26. Right-click the selected worksheet tabs. Excel displays a Context menu.
27. Choose Move or Copy from the Context menu. Excel displays the Move or Copy dialog box.
28. Select the (move to end) option.
29. Make sure the Create a Copy check box is selected.
30. Click on OK. You now have 20 copies of your worksheet.

That may seem like a lot of steps, but it isn't really—all you've done is to use the move/copy feature five times instead of 20 times to get to the desired number of worksheets. There is one caveat to this approach, though—if the worksheet you are copying has any defined tables in it, then you won't be able to get past step 8. When you try step 9, you'll get a message saying that you cannot copy or move a group of worksheets when any of them contain tables. (You can copy or move a single worksheet containing a table, just not a group of them.)

There is another shortcut you can use, and it doesn't involve using the Move or Copy dialog box. All you need to do is to select the worksheet you want to copy and drag the worksheet name (on the worksheet tab) to the right. You'll see a small "document" icon appear next to the mouse pointer. Press the Ctrl key at this point, and a plus sign appears inside the icon. When you release the mouse button, then the worksheet is copied. You can also copy groups of worksheets in this manner unless, again, there are any defined tables in the worksheets in the group.

Another option to copying your worksheet is to do the following:

1. Create your "master" worksheet, as desired.
2. Add enough blank worksheets so you have one for each copy you want to make. (A good way to add blank worksheets is to press Shift+F11.)
3. Select the master worksheet.
4. Press Ctrl+A. Excel selects everything in the master worksheet.
5. Press Ctrl+C. Everything is now copied to the Clipboard.
6. Click on the worksheet tab for the first blank worksheet you created.
7. Hold down the Shift key as you click on the worksheet tab for the last blank worksheet you created.
8. Press Ctrl+V. The contents of the Clipboard are pasted into each of the worksheets you selected.

This copies everything from the master worksheet, but it doesn't copy some things like column widths, row heights, or print layout settings. You can perform some additional steps to copy some of these, but it is difficult to copy them all.

For sheer speed and convenience, though, using a macro to create the copies is (in my view) the easiest. Here's a very simple macro that will make copies of the selected worksheet until such point as there are a total of 20 worksheets in the workbook:

Sub SimpleCopy1()
    Do While Sheets.Count < 20
        ActiveSheet.Copy After:=Sheets(Sheets.Count)
    Loop
End Sub

If your workbook has additional worksheets in it already (besides the one you want to copy), then you would benefit by using this version:

Sub SimpleCopy2()
    Dim J As Integer

    For J = 1 To 20
        ActiveSheet.Copy After:=Sheets(Sheets.Count)
    Next J
End Sub

You can make your macro a bit more general purpose by having it ask the user how many copies should be made:

Sub SimpleCopy2()
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim iWanted As Integer

    On Error GoTo Done
    iWanted = Cint(InputBox("Number of copies?"))

    If iWanted >0 And iWanted < 201 Then
        For J = 1 To iWanted
            ActiveSheet.Copy After:=Sheets(Sheets.Count)
        Next J
    End If
Done:
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

This macro also limits the number of worksheet copies made to between 1 and 200. (Outside of that range, it will do nothing.) The error handling is added in case your workbook already has a large number of worksheets and adding additional ones exceeds the number of worksheets it is permissible to have in a workbook.

Regardless of which macro approach you choose, it is a good idea to add it to your Quick Access Toolbar or assign a shortcut key to it. That way you can copy your worksheets very quickly.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1600) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.