How to Modify the Worksheet Tab in Excel

Workbook vs. Worksheet

Just like in Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint, you can have multiple pages in Microsoft Excel. Sometimes the two terms, workbook and worksheet, can be confusing.

A workbook is the entire Excel file. Some refer to their Excel file as a spreadsheet, but technically, a spreadsheet is one page in a workbook. And, did you know you can have multiple spreadsheets within a workbook? A worksheet is a single page or sheet within the workbook.

This lesson will review the purpose of worksheet tabs, explain where to find them, discuss how to add and remove them, and finally, how to change the fill color of a worksheet tab.

Excel Worksheets

The worksheet is also referred to as the spreadsheet. Think of a workbook as a regular book, in that one book is the entire story, but each page contains a part of the story. Another example would be your personal budget. The entire workbook contains your budget, but you might have one page or worksheet for each month of the year.

The worksheet tabs appear at the bottom of the page. Clicking on the tab takes you directly to that page of your workbook. You can add more worksheets, delete them, change the worksheet title and add a color fill to the tab.

Adding, Deleting and Naming Worksheet Tabs

There are two common ways to add a worksheet. You can use the ribbon commands or use the right-click method. Let's start with the steps to using the ribbon commands.

1. Start by going to the Home menu in the ribbon.
2. Then, look in the Cells grouping of commands.
3. Click on Insert.
4. Choose Insert Sheet.

Not sure about you, but that's too many steps for me!

I prefer the right-click method. Right-click on any of the worksheet tabs, select Insert from the options menu and click on OK. That's it! Don't worry about the tab title at this point, that comes next.

You can follow the same right-click method to delete a worksheet as well. Right-click on the worksheet tab and choose Delete.

Let me share a quick tip with you. If all you need to do is add a sheet, there is a plus symbol next to the last sheet in the workbook. Click on the shortcut to insert a worksheet.

Now let's take a look at giving the worksheet tab a title. Something a little more detailed than Sheet 1, Sheet 2, Sheet 3, and so on. Again, as with all things related to computer applications, there is more than one way to get something accomplished. You can right-click on the tab and select Rename or you can just double-click directly on the tab title. I prefer the double-click method.