When you work with a Excel file, you may need to apply the same formula or insert the corresponding columns for all sheets. The grouping functionality in Microsoft Excel allows you to group worksheets, and then use the same formula for all sheets, doing so for a single sheet. Everything you change in the first sheet also changes in all sheets. In this article, I’m going to show how you can group spreadsheets in Excel and save a lot of time.
How to group worksheets in Excel
- Open an Excel file and carefully decide which spreadsheets you want to apply the current changes to.
- Press Ctrl, then use the mouse to select the sheets you want to group. This creates group worksheets in Excel.
- The leaves you select will be highlighted, while the others will be grayed out.
- Now make the desired changes in the sheets by doing it on any sheet.
- To select all sheets, use “Select all sheets“In the menu.
- Once done, right-click on one of the grouped worksheets and select Ungroup.
- Any changes you now make to one of the sheets will not be copied.
When you have such sheets that need to be grouped together, but cannot be placed next to each other, you can use colors. First, select them using Ctrl, then right-click one of them. In the menu, you will have the option of the Color tab to apply the color to each of them. It is particularly useful when you want to identify them quickly on tons of leaves.
Where to use the Group Worksheets feature in Excel?
Before showing it to you, be aware that when you group worksheets together, it will duplicate everything you write in one sheet in another. If you create a new column in a sheet, it will create columns in the exact location in other sheets. The same goes for the formula, any deletion and addition. The essence of using this feature is therefore when you want to apply the same changes in the same place and for all sheets.
The sheet below calculates the average cost of each publication and the average of the authors’ publications.
- I created sheets for individual authors.
- I then selected the sheets using the Group worksheets function.
- Publish this, created a basic frame of all the labels that would be in all of the sheets.
- Then, the grouping was deleted, then individual data was entered according to the authors.
- When the data entry is complete, re-create the group worksheets in Excel, then apply the standard formulas.
Excel WorkSheet Author 1
Excel WorkSheet Author 2
I applied the formula when the first sheet was selected, then it was automatically applied to all the sheets instantly.
While this is a cool feature, be sure to use it with care. Any changes you make in a sheet are applied to everyone. Anything you delete is also deleted.
I hope the message was easy to understand and that you were able to group the spreadsheets in Excel. It’s a great feature that can save you a lot of time, be sure to use it.
