Synchronous Scrolling with More than Two Windows

David has a large worksheet that he needs to view in three different windows and have them scroll all at the same time. He knows how to use "view side by side" and turn on synchronous scrolling, but it seems to only work for two windows. David wonders if there is a way to do it for three.

There is no way to do synchronous scrolling in Excel with more than two windows. Depending on your needs (and the nature of your data) you may be able to get around this by creatively splitting windows, such that you end up with two actual windows, but one of them is split to show two different parts of the same worksheet.

If that doesn't fit your needs, the only thing you can do is to simulate the synchronicity between windows. This must be done with a macro, similar to the following:

Sub SynchSheets()
    ' Duplicates the active sheet's cell position in each sheet

    If TypeName(ActiveSheet) <> "Worksheet" Then Exit Sub

    Dim shUser As Worksheet
    Dim sht As Worksheet
    Dim lTopRow As Long
    Dim lLeftCol As Long
    Dim sAddr As String

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False

    ' Note the current sheet
    Set shUser = ActiveSheet

    ' take information from current sheet
    With ActiveWindow
        lTopRow = .ScrollRow
        lLeftCol = .ScrollColumn
        sAddr = .RangeSelection.Address
    End With

    ' loop through worksheets
    For Each sht In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        If sht.Visible Then 'skip hidden sheets
            sht.Activate
            Range(sAddr).Select
            ActiveWindow.ScrollRow = lTopRow
            ActiveWindow.ScrollColumn = lLeftCol
        End If
    Next sht

    shUser.Activate
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

This macro essentially steps through each worksheet in the workbook and makes the same cell active and visible in each worksheet. If you start with your worksheets displayed on the screen, then the macro will "synchronize" what you see in each worksheet so that it is the same.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9777) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013.