Google Sheets is an excellent tool for organizing data and performing calculations. Whether you’re tracking inventory, designing a budget, or simply managing your daily tasks, Google Sheets is versatile and powerful. One of the most common tasks for Google Sheets users is inserting new sheets into their workbooks. In this article, you’ll discover five different ways to insert a new sheet in Google Sheets!
Insert a Sheet Using the Insert Menu
If you had to guess where to insert a sheet, you might try the Insert menu. And you’d be right! The Insert menu is a quick and easy way to add new sheets. Just click on the Insert tab in your workbook, then select the New Sheet option. Here’s how:
- Click on the Insert tab in the menu.
- Select the New Sheet option.
The sheets will be added directly to the right of your active sheet and will shift the existing sheets. You can also create a table of contents listing all the sheets in your workbook to make navigation easier when you have a large number of sheets.
Insert a Sheet Using the Plus Icon
The Plus icon is another easy way to add a new sheet to your workbook. Unlike the Insert menu, it is located at the bottom of your workbook, to the left of all the existing sheets. Simply click on the Plus icon to insert a new sheet. The sheet will be added right next to the active sheet.
Insert a Sheet Using a Keyboard Shortcut
Google Sheets has many keyboard shortcuts, and there are some that are truly worth learning. Inserting a new sheet is a common task, so knowing this shortcut is essential! Press Shift + F11 on your keyboard to insert a new sheet. The new sheet will also be added to the right of your active sheet.
Insert a Sheet by Copying an Existing Sheet
Often, you may want to get a non-empty sheet, but a copy of an existing sheet in your workbook. Google Sheets makes it easy to copy any sheet. Here’s how:
- Right-click on the tab of the sheet you want to copy.
- Select “Copy to” from the options.
- Select “Existing spreadsheet” from the options.
Google will create a duplicated sheet containing all the data, formulas, charts, and other objects from the chosen source sheet. It’s really convenient and saves you a lot of time compared to creating a sheet from scratch.
Insert Sheets Using Apps Scripts
Google Sheets makes automating tasks easy. By using Apps Scripts, you can create custom functions that can be used directly from the Google interface! One such useful function is “insertSheet()”. It allows you to insert a new sheet into your workbook. You can use it to create sheets based on the active range in your workbook, automating the creation and naming of multiple sheets.
To use this function, copy the following code into the Google Sheets script editor:
function insertSheets() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var selection = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSelection();
var activeRange = selection.getActiveRange();
var sheetNames = activeRange.getValues();
for (var i=0 ; i<sheetNames.length ; i++){
ss.insertSheet(sheetNames[i][0]);
}
}
function onOpen() {
var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var menuItems = [
{name: 'Create Sheets from Active Range', functionName: 'insertSheets'}
];
spreadsheet.addMenu('Add a Sheet', menuItems);
}The above code will create sheets based on the first column of the selected range in your workbook. The code also creates a custom menu item in your workbook’s interface, allowing the user to easily run it. It’s a great way to automate the tedious task of inserting dozens of sheets!
If you create many sheets in your workbook, you may also need to organize them. Check out this article to learn how to automatically sort your sheets. Another excellent option for organizing the sheets in your workbook is to create a table of contents listing all the sheets with hyperlinks to each sheet. This way, you can navigate to a sheet by clicking on the link.
Conclusion
Inserting new sheets is one of the most common tasks when working with Google Sheets. In Google Sheets, there are five different ways to do it: using the Insert menu, the Plus icon, a keyboard shortcut, copying an existing sheet, or inserting sheets with Apps Scripts! The steps vary slightly, but all add a sheet right next to the active sheet. Which method do you find the easiest? Let us know below if any of these methods helped increase your productivity. And if you want to learn more about advanced features of Google Sheets and other tips and tricks, don’t hesitate to visit Crawlan.com!
