How to make sheet tab name equal to cell value in Excel?

In some cases, you may need to rename a worksheet based on a specified cell value. In this article, we will show you methods of making sheet tab name equal to cell value in Excel.

Make sheet tab name equal to cell value with VBA code
Make sheet tab name equal to cell value with Kutools for Excel

Make sheet tab name equal to cell value with VBA code

With the following VBA code, you can make sheet tab name equal to cell value automatically.

1. Right click the sheet tab which you want to make the sheet name equal to cell value, then click View Code from the right-clicking menu. See screenshot:

2. Copy and paste below code into the Code window, and then press Alt + Q keys simultaneously to close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

VBA code: Make sheet tab equal to cell value

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
	If Not Intersect(Target, Range("A1")) Is Nothing Then
		ActiveSheet.Name = ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
	End If
End Sub

Note: In the code, A1 is the cell which contains the value you need to use as sheet name. You can change it as you need.

From now on, when the value in cell A1 changed, the sheet tab name will be changed equally as well.

Make sheet tab name equal to cell value with Kutools for Excel

In this section, we introduce you the Rename Multiple Worksheets utility of Kutools for Excel. With this utility, you can easily rename worksheets with certain cell’s value in Excel.

Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.

1. Click Kutools Plus > Worksheet > Rename Multiple Worksheets. See screenshot:

2. In the Rename Multiple Worksheets dialog box, you need to do as follows.

1). Check the worksheet names you want to rename in the Worksheets box (you can select one sheet or multiple sheets).

2). Select Replace original sheet name box in the Rename Options section.

3). If you want to rename a worksheet or multiple worksheets with specified cell’s value, please select the From specific range option, and select the range of cells that you want to rename the sheets based on.

4). Click the OK button. See screenshot:

You can see the selected worksheets are renamed by the specified range value immediately as below screenshot shown.

Notes:

1. You can use the Filter function to easily filter out the needed worksheet if there are lots of worksheets exist.

2. If you want to rename multiple worksheets with a certain cell value in each sheet. For example, sheet1 will be equal to its cell A1’s value, and sheet2 will also be equal to its cell A1’s value. Please select worksheets in the Worksheets box, then select the Rename worksheets with specific cell option, and specify cell A1 in the box.

3. The sheet name won’t be changed automatically with the cell value changes.

If you want to have a free trial ( 30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.

Make sheet tab name equal to cell value with Kutools for Excel

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dan · 1 months ago
How can I reference two cells. for example name and id number?
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NickP84 · 3 months ago
This is exactly what I need, but I need the tab to recreate a date and it isn't working... I assume this is something to do with the way excel works out date and time, can anyone suggest a workaround?
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  crystal · 1 months ago
  
  Hi Nick,
  Excel does not support typing the sheet name containing special characters. If the date you type contains the character /, it won't allow you to create the sheet name with that date.
  
  Reply
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Nilanjan Pal · 2 years ago
You can rather use simple macro

Sub Macro3()
Dim index As Integer
For index = 1 To 18

Sheets(index).Name = Sheets(index).Range("A2").Value

Next index

End Sub
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  crystal · 2 years ago
  
  Good Day,
  Thank you for sharing.
  
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JAS · 2 years ago
I got the whole code, and it worked. Thank you so much for your help!
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  crystal · 2 years ago
  
  Dear JAS,
  I’m glad I could help.
  
  Reply
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JJ · 2 years ago
I am getting this code to work, but it does not automatically update the tab name when the cell it pulls the name from if referencing another cell (and that cell changes).

I.e. I change a cell in a master list, which changes the cell text in a specific cell on each tab, which the code is referencing as the tab name, BUT the tab doesn't update its name correspondingly.
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  crystal · 2 years ago
  
  Good day,
  The following VBA code can solve your problem. Thank you for your comment1
  
  Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
  Dim xRg As Range, xCell As Range
  On Error Resume Next
  If Not Intersect(Target, Range("A1")) Is Nothing Then
  ActiveSheet.Name = ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
  End If
  Application.EnableEvents = False
  Set xRg = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Precedents
  If Not xRg Is Nothing Then
  For Each xCell In xRg
  ActiveSheet.Name = ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
  Next
  End If
  Application.EnableEvents = True
  End Sub
  
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  NOOR · 1 years ago
  
  I change a cell in a master list, which changes the cell text in a specific cell on each tab, which the code is referencing as the tab name, BUT the tab doesn't update its name correspondingly.
  
  ---- it's not work
  
  Reply
  
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  John Hammonds · 1 years ago
  
  I need to use this code but I've never entered vba code before. Any guidance would be appreciated.
  
  Reply
  
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  JAS · 2 years ago
  
  Still doesn't work. I'm having the same issue as jJJ. crystal: Is the whole code shown in your reply?
  The last line shown in your comment is "Set xRg = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Precedents"
  
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  crystal · 2 years ago
  
  Dear JAS,
  Please click the Read more button on the right side of the comment to display the whole comment.
  
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  Alex · 2 years ago
  
  Still have the same issue.
  
  I have A1 of the new sheet point to another cell in a different tab. It updates the first time (when you execute) but then no change when editing the master cell
  
  Reply
  
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  Rj · 11 months ago
  
  Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Excel.Range)
  Set Target = Range("A1")
  If Target = "" Then Exit Sub
  On Error GoTo Badname
  ActiveSheet.Name = Left(Target, 31)
  Exit Sub
  Badname:
  MsgBox "Please revise the entry in A1." & Chr(13) _
  & "It appears to contain one or more " & Chr(13) _
  & "illegal characters." & Chr(13)
  Range("A1").Activate
  End Sub
  
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Jason · 2 years ago
I pasted this in as instructed but it didn't show up in my list of available Macros. I tried to manually run it by keying in the Macro name. When it attempted to run the Macro, an error message came up "Argument no optional".

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
If Not Intersect(Target, Range("A1")) Is Nothing Then
ActiveSheet.Name = ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
End If
End Sub

Has anyone else run this code and had the same issue?

As a test I ran more basic code and it worked fine so the value in "A1" isn't causing the problem. When I run the code below I can see the Macro name "myTabName" in the Macro list. The code above doesn't appear and I'm assuming this is because of the bug/missing argument.

Sub myTabName()
ActiveSheet.Name = ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
End Sub

Thanks for your help as I'd very much like to use the code as intended for automating tab name changes based on a cell value..
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  crystal · 2 years ago
  
  Dear Jason,
  The code works well in my case. Would you please provide your Office version? Thank you for your comment.
  
  Reply