Every Keyboard Shortcut for Sheet Navigation in Excel

Navigation Shortcuts

• Ctrl+Page Down — Move to the next sheet (to the right)
• Ctrl+Page Up — Move to the previous sheet (to the left)

These are the fundamentals. Hold them down to cycle rapidly through sheets. The order follows the visual tab order, not alphabetical.

Selection Shortcuts

• Ctrl+Shift+Page Down — Select current sheet and the next sheet
• Ctrl+Shift+Page Up — Select current sheet and the previous sheet

Keep pressing to extend the selection. This is useful for group operations like formatting multiple sheets identically or deleting several sheets at once.

Working with the Active Sheet

• Shift+F11 — Insert a new sheet (before the current one)
• Alt+H, O, R — Rename the current sheet (via the Home ribbon)
• Alt+H, D, S — Delete the current sheet
• Alt+H, O, U, S — Hide the current sheet
• Alt+H, O, U, H — Unhide sheets dialog

The Alt sequences trigger ribbon commands. They work but require memorization.

Go To Specific Sheets

• Ctrl+G or F5 — Open Go To dialog, type sheet reference like 'SheetName'!A1
• Ctrl+F6 — Cycle between open workbook windows (not sheets, but related)

There's no built-in shortcut to open the sheet list dialog. You can right-click the navigation arrows with your mouse, but there's no keyboard equivalent.

The Keyboard Navigation Problem

Notice what's missing: there's no keyboard shortcut to open a searchable sheet list. In a 50-sheet workbook, Ctrl+Page Down means pressing the shortcut up to 50 times to reach the last sheet.

You can't jump to a sheet by name without opening Go To and typing the full name with correct quotes. For workbooks you use daily, this friction adds up.

Creating Custom Shortcuts (VBA)

You can create your own shortcuts using VBA. For example, to jump to a sheet named “Dashboard” with Ctrl+Shift+D:

Application.OnKey "^+d", "GoToDashboard"

This requires VBA knowledge and only works for sheets you define in advance. It's a workaround, not a solution.

Official Resources

• Excel keyboard shortcuts — Microsoft shortcuts reference
• Worksheet management — managing worksheets