Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Opening a Workbook to a Specific Worksheet.

Opening a Workbook to a Specific Worksheet

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated December 12, 2015)

3

Marcus wonders if it is possible to somehow configure a workbook so that it opens on the same worksheet tab each time it is opened, rather than on the worksheet tab that was displayed when the workbook was last saved. The short answer is that you can do this—provided you use a macro. (There is no way to do it without a macro.)

There are two ways you can set up your macro. First, you can use a traditional Auto_Open macro that is automatically run whenever a workbook is opened:

Sub Auto_Open()
    Sheets("OpenToThisSheet").Select
End Sub

All you need to do is replace OpenToThisSheet with the name of the worksheet you want displayed when the workbook opens. A similar approach is to create a Workbook_Open event handler:

Sub Workbook_Open()
    ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("OpenToThisSheet").Activate
End Sub

Again, change the sheet name to reflect the name of the actual sheet you want displayed. This event handler should be added as part of the ThisWorkbook module.

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 (11706) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Opening a Workbook to a Specific Worksheet.

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. ...

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What is 9 - 8?

2015-12-15 05:52:38

Barry

This ONLY works if the security settings for your installation of Excel allow macros to run, or if macros are not disabled when the Workbook is opened.

There is no easy way around this but you could have a macro that hides all the Worksheets whenever the Workbook is closed/saved forcing the User to allow macros to be run in order to access any Worksheets in the Workbook.

2015-12-14 10:56:38

StevenM

This can also be accomplished by saving a workspace (VIEW tab, Save Workspace)and opening the *.xlw file instead of opening the spreadsheet directly.

2015-12-12 08:31:42

Willy Vanhaelen

The Auto_Open macro is a relic of old Excel versions. This is what Help (Excel 2007) says:

"Workbook.RunAutoMacros Method
Runs the Auto_Open, Auto_Close, Auto_Activate, or Auto_Deactivate macro attached to the workbook. This method is included for backward compatibility. For new Visual Basic code, you should use the Open, Close, Activate and Deactivate events instead of these macros."

In this case the second macro of this tip is a better choice:

Sub Workbook_Open()
Sheets("OpenToThisSheet").Activate
End Sub

"ActiveWorkbook." is supperflous because the macro resides in the ThisWorkbook code page and only runs when this workbook is active (loading).

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