Excel Worksheet Definition, Function, and How to Use It

In this tutorial, we will discuss about the excel worksheet definition completely, and also its function and usage. The worksheet is an important component we need to understand if we use excel in our work.

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Excel Worksheet Definition is…

What does a worksheet mean?

A worksheet is a cells collection divided by rows and columns, the place where we do our excel work. We can have more than one worksheets in excel and we can divide our work as we prefer with those worksheets.

What is called as a worksheet in excel can be seen in the screenshot below (the one in the red box)

Worksheet Function

Generally, the worksheet functions are as follows.

• Accommodate the cells, which are the place where we input and process our data in excel
• Divide the work we do in excel based on our preference
• Become a preview of the work result we want to print from excel

By mastering the use of worksheets, you can do those functions more optimally in your work.

How to Move Between Worksheets in Excel

Want to move from one worksheet to another in excel? Easy!



To start, take a look at the bottom left part of your excel file. There, you will see the worksheet management part of excel like the one in the red box below.



The active worksheet is given a white background and a green-colored font like this.



If you want to move and activate another worksheet, then you just click on that other worksheet name. You will immediately move to that worksheet!



If you want to use shortcut buttons, then press Ctrl + Page Down (Fn + Control + down arrow buttons in Mac) to move to the next worksheet. To move to the previous worksheet, press Ctrl + Page Up (Fn + Control + up arrow buttons in Mac).

How to Add a Sheet in Excel

If you want to add a new worksheet, just click the + symbol on the bottom left of your excel file. You can see the + symbol exact location below.



By clicking the button, you will immediately create a new worksheet. The new worksheet will automatically be placed on the right side of your current active worksheet.

You automatically move to the new worksheet upon the creation of it.



If you want to use shortcut buttons, then you can press Shift + F11 (Fn + Shift + F11 in Mac) to create a new worksheet fast. If you use the shortcut buttons, the new worksheet will be on the left side of your active worksheet.

How to Delete a Sheet in Excel

What if we want to delete the worksheet we have in our excel file? Maybe we don’t need all the contents in that worksheet anymore. What should we do?

As an example, to better understand how to do it, see the following excel file.



We want to delete “Sheet4” from the sheet list that we have there. How we can do that?

It is actually quite easy. You just right-click on the sheet name you want to delete. After that, click Delete.



The sheet you delete will immediately be gone from your sheet list!

How to Change Worksheets Order in Excel

To change the worksheets order, you need to drag the sheet you want to change the order of.

Click and hold your click on the sheet name you want to reorder. Then, move your pointer to the order where you want to place that sheet.

After your pointer is in the order where you want the sheet to be, release your click. That will make your sheet move to the order you prefer!

How to Rename Sheet in Excel

For changing a sheet name in excel, we can do that quite easily.

Take a look at the example below. Let’s say we have sheets like in this excel file and we want to change the “Sheet5” name into “Sheet2”



Move your pointer to the sheet name you want to rename. Then, right-click and choose Rename.



Excel will automatically block the sheet name that you want to rename. Immediately type the new name you want for that sheet.



After done typing, click inside the sheet or click another sheet’s name. The name of your sheet has been changed!

How to Duplicate an Excel Sheet

Want to copy all the contents in a sheet into a new sheet? That means you must copy the sheet itself.



How to do it? First, you right-click on the sheet you want to copy and choose Move or Copy…



Excel will display the Move or Copy dialog box. Check the Create a Copy checkbox in the bottom part of the dialog box.



After that, in the box above, pick before which sheet you want to place the resulting sheet from your copy process. You can also pick (move to end) if you want to put that sheet last in your sheet order.



You can use the dropdown above the box to put the resulting sheet in another excel file that is currently opened. If you want to put it in the same excel file, then just ignore the dropdown.

After choosing the place to put the resulting sheet from this copy process, click OK.



You have copied your sheet! The resulting sheet will have the same content as the sheet that becomes its copy source.



Want to copy faster? You can also press your Ctrl (Option in Mac) button while dragging the sheet name you want to copy.

Drag it to the place where you want to put the resulting sheet from the copy process. After your pointer is in that place, release your drag. The copy process is done!

How to Protect Sheet in Excel

Sometimes, we want our worksheet content to not be modified carelessly. Maybe, we need to share our excel file and we don’t want our data input/processing to be modified.

Is there a way to do that? The answer is yes, there is, by utilizing the sheet protection feature in excel.

How to utilize this feature? First, you right-click the sheet you want to protect and click Protect Sheet…



There will be a dialog box shown to help the process.

If you want to use a password for the sheet protection, type the password in the two text boxes given. Later, excel will ask you this password when you want to unprotect this sheet.



If you don’t want to use a password, then you can let those two text boxes empty.

In the menu below the password text boxes, you can change the settings of your worksheet’s protection. Check the things allowed and uncheck the things that aren’t allowed in the sheet when it is protected.



After you have inputted the password and manage the sheet protection settings, click OK.



You have locked your worksheet! You cannot modify its content or do things that aren’t allowed in the worksheet.

Want some cells to be editable in your protected worksheet? Then highlight and right-click on those cells before you protect your sheet and click Format Cells…



Then, go to the Protection tab in the dialog box shown and uncheck the checkbox beside the “Locked” word. Next, click OK.



Your cells will still be editable when you protect the sheet where they reside!

How to Unlock an Excel Sheet

What if our worksheet is protected and we want to unprotect it?

The way to do that is quite easy. You just right-click the sheet name you want to unprotect and choose Unprotect Sheet…



If there is no password on the sheet, then excel will immediately unprotect the sheet. If there is, then excel will ask you for the password before it unprotects the sheet.



Input the password and click OK. Excel will then immediately unprotect the sheet. As a result, you can edit the content of that worksheet again!

How to Hide a Worksheet in Excel

Hiding a sheet in excel so we cannot access it is probably something we must do sometimes. Maybe the sheet contains only some data processing that we don’t need to display. Or, probably, the data there isn’t essentially needed to be displayed.

For those purposes, we can use the hide sheet feature in excel.

The way to use this feature is easy. Just right-click on the name of the sheet you want to hide and choose Hide.



And done! The sheet has been hidden in your excel file.

How to Unhide a Worksheet in Excel

After we hide it, we must unhide our worksheet if we want to see or edit its content. The way to unhide it is as easy as the way to hide it.



Just right-click on one of our sheet names and choose Unhide…



There will be a dialog box shown which displays the sheet names we currently hide. Choose the worksheets we want to unhide and click OK.



The hidden worksheet we choose will become unhidden. We can see or edit the content in the worksheet again.

Additional Note

From excel 2007, each worksheet in excel has 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows. The versions before that have a fewer number of columns and rows.



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