There are many reasons why you might want to view more than one worksheet on your desktop at the same time. Often we perform analyses on data that has an effect on results in another worksheet. Being able to view those effects at the same time you make the change can make the analysis more efficient. Some examples might be:

• View the chart sheet and data sheet to observe the effect of changes in the underlying data on the chart
• View an Loan Amortization Repayment grid and the Loan Terms input sheet to see the effects of changes in the loan terms on the repayment terms
• View the Cash Flow sheet with the income statement to see what effect changes in profit margins have on the company’s cash flow

With Excel you can easily view more than one worksheet at a time, but I would recommend that you limit the number to four. Otherwise, the work area for each worksheet is too small to be effective. The technique to view more than one worksheet is thus:

1. For best results close all other open workbooks
2. Activate one of the worksheets you would like to display
3. Click on Window | New Window
You will get a second incident of the same file
Continue to select a worksheet and use Window | New Window until you have all the worksheet you want to arrange. For example, if you want to display 4 worksheets open 3 new windows; your original window represents the 4th display.
4. Click on Window | Arrange to open the arrange Windows dialog box
5. Select the arrange you desire (Tiled; Horizontal; Vertical; Cascade)
6. New to Excel XP – If you have other open Workbooks, click on Windows to Active Workbook to eliminate the other files from the arrangement.
7. Click on OK

Each display in the arrangement is a separate window pane but all changes made in the pane effect the original file. Choose a different worksheet tab to be displayed in each of the panes. Position each of the worksheet areas where you can view the data being affected. Now, as you make changes to one pane, you can observe the effects on the dependent data in the other panes.

I prefer to limit my analysis to 2 worksheet panes, if I can and arrange the panes vertically. This allows me to see the data clearly side by side.

Try this on in a workbook where you have multiple worksheets with data linkage between the worksheet.

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