Different Cell Movement in a Single Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 9, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

Patrick wonders if there is a way to have the cell movement move to the right on one worksheet in a workbook and down on another worksheet in the same workbook. The only thing he can find is a global setting for all the worksheets in the workbook.

Patrick is correct; this setting is something that is handled globally in Excel. You can change the setting by following these steps:

  1. Display the Excel Options dialog box. (In Excel 2007 click the Office button and then click Excel Options. In Excel 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. At the left of the dialog box click Advanced. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Advanced options of the Excel Options dialog box.

  4. Under Editing Options, make sure that the "After Pressing Enter, Move Selection" check box is checked. (It should be checked, by default.)
  5. Using the Direction drop-down list, change the direction as desired.
  6. Click OK.

This changes the direction of movement for all workbooks you open in Excel. If you want the movement to vary for a single worksheet, you can accomplish this through the use of a few event handlers. Two of these are attached to the worksheet you want to be handled differently; just right-click on the worksheet's tab and select Code from the resulting Context menu. You can then paste the following into the Code window:

Private Sub Worksheet_Activate()
    Application.MoveAfterReturnDirection = xlToRight
End Sub
Private Sub Worksheet_Deactivate()
    Application.MoveAfterReturnDirection = xlDown
End Sub

These event handlers are triggered, respectively, when the worksheet is activated and when you deactivate the worksheet by selecting a different worksheet. Note that upon activation, the direction is set to xlToRight, which means that movement will by to the right. When the worksheet is deactivated, the direction is set to xlDown, which is assumed to be the default direction.

You will also need a third event handler; this one should be added to the ThisWorkbook module:

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
    Application.MoveAfterReturnDirection = xlDown
End Sub

This is necessary because if you close Excel while the "move right" worksheet is active, then the movement direction remains set to xlToRight. This means that the next time you start Excel, that becomes the default direction. By including the BeforeClose event handler, you ensure that the default is set as it should be.

There is only one small potential gotcha with this approach: When you first open a workbook, the Activate event is not triggered for whatever worksheet is first displayed. This means that if your "move right" worksheet is displayed for the workbook, by default, the movement won't be changed to xlToRight; it will still be set to the default, which is presumably xlDown. To force the event handler to run, you'll need to display a different worksheet in the workbook and then come back to the original worksheet. If you would rather not do this manually, you could add a fourth event handler, this one also in the ThisWorkbook module:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
    Sheets("Sheet2").Select
    Sheets("Sheet1").Select
End Sub

This macro selects the worksheet named Sheet2 and then immediately selects the one named Sheet1. You should, of course, change the worksheet names to reflect the ones appropriate for your workbook—just make sure that the last worksheet selected is the "move right" worksheet.

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 (13640) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

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

Applying Borders to Tables

Want to change the borders that Word adds to your tables? You have complete control over the way your borders appear, ...

Discover More

Printing Rows Conditionally

Need to only print out certain rows from your data? It's easy to do if you apply the filtering or sorting techniques ...

Discover More

Repaginating in a Macro

When creating a macro that extensively processes a document, you may need to periodically force Word to repaginate the ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Permanently Turning On Set Precision As Displayed

Some people prefer to have what is displayed on the screen in Excel be the precision at which the program works. If you ...

Discover More

Controlling Display of Page Breaks

Do you want page breaks displayed on the screen? Excel allows you to specify whether it should show those page breaks or not.

Discover More

SUMIF Doesn't Recalc Automatically

What are you to do if you suspect that some of your worksheet functions aren't recalculating automatically? Here's some ...

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 five more than 6?

2024-11-09 10:07:42

J. Woolley

For more on this subject, see my comment here:
https://excelribbon.tips.net/T007220#comment-form-hd


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.