Too many sheets opening in Excel document

[snakysmom]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel I don't know what I clicked on but when I make a new Excel document, eight pages open up across my screen. How can I get it down to one page? When I look up help it says to click on the extra pages, go to edit and check delete page. It doesn't work and gives me a funny message. Or is it normal for there to be eight sheets when you start a document?

 

[John McGhie]

I only see one-and-a-half...

The problem is that your screen is too big. To fix it, send me that nasty
big screen, and I will send you a smaller one

Seriously: This is controlled by your "Zoom" setting. You can change the
starting settings for Excel. It's a bit of a fiddle:
Read the help topic "Control how workbooks and sheets are created" and it
will talk you through setting all the various bells and whistles to your
tastes.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
I don't know what I clicked on but when I make a new Excel document, eight
pages open up across my screen. How can I get it down to one page? When I
look up help it says to click on the extra pages, go to edit and check delete
page. It doesn't work and gives me a funny message. Or is it normal for there
to be eight sheets when you start a document?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[CyberTaz]

Additional to John's suggestion...

If you simply switch to Normal view (from the View menu or by clicking the
Normal View button in the lower left corner of the window) I believe you'll
find it to provide the more conventional display you're looking for. Right
now you're in Page Layout view which displays how the contents of the sheet
will be distributed to paper if you were to print.

It also appears you may be misinterpreting the Help. There is no 'Delete
Page' command in Excel. You can delete a Cell, a Row, a Column or a Sheet,
but not a Page. As above, 'Pages' are simply the subdivisions of a Sheet
based on whatever the current Page Setup settings happen to be. That's what
you're seeing displayed in Page Layout View.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[DWTJ09]

I'm having the same issue on my new iMac with Office 2008. WHY would somebody decide that the default should be to fill your entire screen with as many pages as can fit? It drives me nuts.

The problem is the number of pages being displayed from the currently selected sheet, not the number of sheets. I tried the first suggestion above, and all that changed is that I now only get one "sheet" tab in the lower left. The screen is still completely filled with pages.

Changing from Page Layout to Normal, per the second suggestion just changes the view from discrete pages to a continuous spreadsheet with dotted lines for page boundaries.

The default should be, as in every other version of Excel I've ever used, to just show the first page upon opening. There should be a readily-visible button/menu setting to fill the whole screen for folks who an to view large spreadsheet. That would qualify as a "power user" feature most of us would rarely need.

I've used Macs and Excel since the Mac Plus. This sounds like one of those things about which tech support used to say: "That's not a bug/glitch, that's a feature!"

How do I turn this feature off? The virtue of the big screen for me is that I can have lots of things open and be able to see several at once. A program that automatically fills the whole screen with blank pages is annoyance every time I open it.

 

[snakysmom]

Bob-That is exactly what I ended up doing. I switched to "normal" and now there's only one page or sheet or whatever you call it. I found out that you could do that before I saw your post but it's so nice to know that people care enough to let us know. (And yeah, it was "delete sheet" not "delete page".) Thank you and John.

 

[snakysmom]

DWT, I feel for you. It drove me nuts too. That's why I had to write. But in my case, when I switched to "normal" in view instead of "page layout" my problem was solved.

 

[John McGhie]

The default is to show the Workbook at "100 per cent zoom" the first time
you open it.

If you set it to something else then save it, that's how it will open next
time.

Like Snaky's Mom, your problem is that your screen is too big: send it to me
and your problems will be over

Sorry, they changed it...

I'm having the same issue on my new iMac with Office 2008. WHY would somebody
decide that the default should be to fill your entire screen with as many
pages as can fit? It drives me nuts.

The problem is the number of pages being displayed from the currently selected
sheet, not the number of sheets. I tried the first suggestion above, and all
that changed is that I now only get one "sheet" tab in the lower left. The
screen is still completely filled with pages.

Changing from Page Layout to Normal, per the second suggestion just changes
the view from discrete pages to a continuous spreadsheet with dotted lines for
page boundaries.

The default should be, as in every other version of Excel I've ever used, to
just show the first page upon opening. There should be a readily-visible
button/menu setting to fill the whole screen for folks who an to view large
spreadsheet. That would qualify as a "power user" feature most of us would
rarely need.

I've used Macs and Excel since the Mac Plus. This sounds like one of those
things about which tech support used to say: "That's not a bug/glitch, that's
a feature!"

How do I turn this feature off? The virtue of the big screen for me is that I
can have lots of things open and be able to see several at once. A program
that automatically fills the whole screen with blank pages is annoyance every
time I open it.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[CyberTaz]

No offense or disrespect, but I'm not really clear on exactly what it is
that you're dissatisfied with. Page Layout View is new in this version of
Excel & it's intended to replace both Print Preview & the misleading Page
Break Preview previously provided. True, it takes a little getting used to &
has its pros/cons but there's no need to keep more than one page displayed
at al times. Among the Zoom settings is 'One Page'. Neither it nor any of
the other percentage options affects the number of sheet tabs displayed...
And each sheet can be set independently to whatever display option you wish.

However, if you just don't like Page Layout View the alternative is to use
Normal View. This is exactly the same view that has been the default in
Excel since day one ‹ it's no different than it has ever been. The dotted
lines which indicate what columns & rows fit within the current margin
settings are simply there as visual feedback, but they aren't anything new
either. Many users find them useful so they can more immediately see when a
formatting/layout change causes content to be forced onto a separate page.
The can also be dragged to adjust margin settings without having to switch
views or go into a separate dialog window to do so. If you'd prefer to not
have them displayed just go into the View Preferences & clear the checkbox
for 'Show Page Breaks'.

Along the same lines, nobody decided to "fill your entire screen with as
many pages as can fit"... At least not anyone having to do with the
development of Excel. The default setting is to open new sheets in Page
Layout View @ 100% Zoom ‹ which is just about as middle-of-the-road as it
can get. What determines how many 'pages' that amounts to is the size &
resolution of the display being used & the size of the document window. IOW,
the main thing that's changed over the last 20-odd years is the state of the
technology. Just like page break lines, though, the preferences are where
you can set Normal rather than Page Layout as your default for new sheets.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[DWTJ09]

My apologies. 100% is fine. I somehow never noticed the "one page" choice under zoom. It had been a long aggravating day, and when I found a post with the same problem, I couldn't see how either soggestion would help. Getting dense in my old age.