Navigate between windows in Excel workbooks

by Mary Ann Richardson | Jul 19, 2005 5:47:00 PM

Tags: Microsoft Office, Mary Ann Richardson, Open Excel, Microsoft Excel, Alt, workbook, window, Microsoft Office Suite Excel Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: When you're working with Microsoft Excel, it's common to have two or more workbooks open at once. Learn a handful of basic ways to efficiently navigate between workbooks.

Do you frequently open and work in two or more Microsoft Excel workbooks simultaneously? If so, here are a few basic ways to efficiently navigate between workbooks.

• Open Excel's Window menu, and either type the number corresponding to the workbook you want to view, or click the workbook's name.
• Press [Ctrl][F6] or [Ctrl][Tab]: Each time you press either one of these key combinations, Excel will switch to the next open workbook.
• Press [Alt][Tab]: This causes Windows to display a set of icons corresponding to all open applications, not just your Excel workbooks. Hold the [Alt] key, and press [Tab] to cycle between icons. As you access the Excel icons, Windows will display the name of that workbook. When you find the one you want, release the [Alt] key to display it.
• Click the appropriate item in the Windows taskbar. By default, Excel displays a separate taskbar item for each open Excel window.

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