Simple worksheet tab navigation

Down in the bottom left corner of the screen to the left of the worksheet tabs, you’ll find the worksheet navigation buttons. They come into play when you create so many worksheet tabs that they disappear behind the scroll bar divider.

Here’s what they looked like in Excel 2010.

Working from left-to right, the 4 icons perform the following functions:

1. Go to the first worksheet tab.
2. Go to the previous worksheet tab.
3. Go to the next worksheet tab.
4. Go to the last worksheet tab.

In Excel 2013 onwards Microsoft reconfigured the worksheet navigation icons by ‘simplifying’ them.

Now you get just 2 icons which show the previous or next tabs. To get to the first or last tabs you have to hold down CTRL then click the arrows.

​Clever worksheet tab navigation tricks

Here’s a clever little trick that us Excel geeks normally keep to ourselves. It works on any version of Excel.

If you right-click any of the navigation icons, Excel displays a pop up list of all the worksheet names. You can use this list like a menu and select the worksheet you want to go to.

Here’s a graphic that shows this and also summarises all the other things you can do with worksheet tabs.