Making Multiple Worksheet Copies

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 23, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021


1

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.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1600) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021.

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

Self-Aware Macros

Sometimes it may be helpful for a macro to know exactly where it is being executed. This tip provides a way that you can ...

Discover More

Handling Negative Numbers in a Complex Custom Format

Custom formats are great for defining how a specific value in a cell should look. They aren't that great at doing complex ...

Discover More

Counting Words

Do you need to know how many words are in a range of cells? Excel provides no intrinsic way to count the words, but you ...

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 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Undeleting a Worksheet

Have you ever deleted a worksheet by mistake? Once you get over the sick feeling in your stomach, you will start casting ...

Discover More

Finding a Worksheet to Unhide among Many Hidden Sheets

Trying to track down a single worksheet among many hidden worksheets can be a challenge. This tip examines a few ...

Discover More

Finding the Widest Cell Contents

Need to know which cells in a column are the widest? There are a few ways you can approach the task, and three of those ...

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 three less than 3?

2023-10-08 02:09:34

Tomek

I think the following approach may be more efficient than the 30-step procedure from this tip:

Once you have your worksheet designed, you can save it to your startup location as Sheet.xltm. But before you do that, you should rename or create a copy of any existing file with this name, so that you can restore it later.
You can find your startup location by typing the following into the address box:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART.

Once you have your file there, when you add a new sheet to an open workbook (click on the plus button to the right of existing sheet tabs), it will add your designed sheet, as it will be based on the Sheet.xltm from your startup location. Click on New Sheet button as many time as you need copies of that sheet.

Once done, restore your original Sheet.xltm file in the startup location, or if there was none, just delete or rename your designer file.

BTW, if Sheet.xltm in XLSTART has more than one sheet, all of them will be added, not just one.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu 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.