# 2 Excel questions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 13, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948 "2009-04-13T15:46:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/1 "2009-04-13T15:46:57Z")
I have two Excel questions (2003 SP3 if it makes a difference)
First off, how can I force Excel to open every new workbook in landscape mode? My spread sheets always seem to be wider than they are tall.
The second question is: How do I set up Excel so when I enter a value in a cell on one sheet of a workbook, it auto enters on a second cell on a second sheet of the same workbook?
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/2 "2009-04-13T16:12:13Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> I have two Excel questions (2003 SP3 if it makes a difference)
> First off, how can I force Excel to open every new workbook in landscape mode? My spread sheets always seem to be wider than they are tall.
>
> The second question is: How do I set up Excel so when I enter a value in a cell on one sheet of a workbook, it auto enters on a second cell on a second sheet of the same workbook?
Not sure about your first issue. Excel just opens to fill the screen for me which, given my screen (and most screens) is wider than it is tall.
#2) Easy. Here is an example.
- Enter data in (say) cell A1 on Sheet-1
- On Sheet-2 type in the cell you want to mirror the data in: =Sheet1!A1
Note: You can type “=” in the cell you want to mirror the data in then go to the sheet that has the data and click on the cell you want to copy from. Excel will write the formula for you.
ETA: Of course “A1” above will change to be whatever cell has the data you want in it. Also, you can use the above in a formula so could be (as an example): =(Sheet1!A1+2)/Z25
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/3 "2009-04-13T16:16:30Z")
1. Huh? AFAIK spreadsheets are just a bunch of cells that stretch out to near-infinity (well, some really high number). Orientation is irrelevant until you specify a printing area, and by that point it would depend on how you’ve set up your data.
2. On the second sheet, click a cell, type in an equal sign (=), and then click on the first sheet and the cell that you want to copy. Back on the second sheet, click-drag that first copied cell and fill down/across as necessary.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/4 "2009-04-13T17:11:30Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> 1. Huh? AFAIK spreadsheets are just a bunch of cells that stretch out to near-infinity (well, some really high number). Orientation is irrelevant until you specify a printing area, and by that point it would depend on how you’ve set up your data.
Actually, the spreadsheet is much longer top-to-bottom than it is left-to-right. Excel spreadsheets have a maximum of 256 columns but 65,536 rows.
Sadly, I think this has absolutely nothing to do with the OP’s question.
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### Author:  [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/5 "2009-04-13T17:30:55Z")
I beleive that the decision to print in landscape vs portrait mode is usually made by the default printer settings, so if you wanted to change them for excel, you could do it by applying the settings globally to your printer, but it would affect all other types of document you opened as well.
To expand on what others have said about auto-copying cell contents, the click-drag requires soem explanation if you are not familiar with it. If you just click the outline of a cell that is currently highlighted, and drag it, you move the contents of the cell around. If you click the small little “box” in the lower right hand corner of the cell and drag it around, it copies the cells contents (if it’s a formula, it will automatically adjust it for the direction you copy it in…let me know if you need further explanation on this) into the highlighted area. You can highlight one cell, or several cells in a row or column format, basically any rectangle shaped area.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/6 "2009-04-13T17:52:02Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#):
>
> To expand on what others have said about auto-copying cell contents, the click-drag requires soem explanation if you are not familiar with it. If you just click the outline of a cell that is currently highlighted, and drag it, you move the contents of the cell around. If you click the small little “box” in the lower right hand corner of the cell and drag it around, it copies the cells contents (if it’s a formula, it will automatically adjust it for the direction you copy it in…let me know if you need further explanation on this) into the highlighted area. You can highlight one cell, or several cells in a row or column format, basically any rectangle shaped area.
I’ve tried explaining this to people over e-mail and over the phone. It’s near-impossible. Anyone have a YouTube link that shows it happening? Wait, here we go:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/1u7Rz4EytSU?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque
The tool we’re speaking of is the “fill handle”. If you’re unfamiliar with it, fiddle around with it to the point of extreme comfort. It’s one of the most useful shortcuts Excel has.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/7 "2009-04-13T18:06:06Z")
One additional tip: some worksheet names require single quotes to work. For example =‘Sheet-1’!A1. This is typically necessary if you use spaces, dashes or other signs Excel would try to interpret as something other than the worksheet name. I’ve got myself in the habit of always adding them, just to avoid problems.
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### Author:  [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/8 "2009-04-13T21:37:59Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> First off, how can I force Excel to open every new workbook in landscape mode? My spread sheets always seem to be wider than they are tall.
If you’re looking to have any new Excel workbook print in landscape mode by default, you can save the Page Setup in the default template.
From the Excel Help topic _Customize how Excel starts_:
> [@](#):
>
> Any workbook, template (The default template for workbooks is called Book.xlt) or workspace file you place in the XLStart folder is automatically opened when you start Excel. This XLStart folder was created when you installed Excel, and is located in one of the following places:
> C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel
> C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11
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### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/9 "2009-04-14T01:55:57Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> Actually, the spreadsheet is much longer top-to-bottom than it is left-to-right. Excel spreadsheets have a maximum of 256 columns but 65,536 rows.
Depends on the version; Excel 2007 can have something like several thousand columns and a million rows.
Granted, this is still much longer than it is wide.
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### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/10 "2009-04-14T02:13:07Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> The second question is: How do I set up Excel so when I enter a value in a cell on one sheet of a workbook, it auto enters on a second cell on a second sheet of the same workbook?
I maybe be interpreting this question wrong, but you can enter the same number in different worksheets by clicking multiple sheets.
If you are Sheet1 and want to put ‘100’ in cell A1 of both Sheet1 and Sheet2, hold {control} while clicking “Sheet2” tab. ‘Sheet1’ should still be highlighted, enter value in A1 and click enter. It works for values, formulas, and text. It might even work for arrays.
In Excel2007, the default spreadsheet has 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows.
Why on earth anyone would want a spreadhseet that large is beyond my comprehension.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/11 "2009-04-14T02:49:52Z")
I guess I did not make myself clear in the OP. I understand that Excel is a jillion cells by a jillion plus cells. What I am talking about is when I open Excel create a new spreadsheet and then go to print. I want the default print view to be landscape not portrait. And no I don’t want my default printer setting to be landscape, I also do letters and stuff on the same printer. It looks like **Duhkecco** might have the answer, I will have to try that tomorrow.
Thanks to all.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/12 "2009-04-14T03:09:46Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> In Excel2007, the default spreadsheet has 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows.
>
> Why on earth anyone would want a spreadhseet that large is beyond my comprehension.
You’d be surprised. Excel can be a great layman’s database – certainly one of the easiest to use.
A while back we had a thread asking about [cities whose names end in “x”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508951) and one of the downloadable lists of cities had more than 2 million entries, overwhelming Excel.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/13 "2009-04-14T12:30:58Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#):
>
> Depends on the version; Excel 2007 can have something like several thousand columns and a million rows.
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> In Excel2007, the default spreadsheet has 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows.
Thanks, ignorance fought. Obviously, I haven’t laid eyes on Excel 2007 yet.
> [@Reply](#):
>
> You’d be surprised. Excel can be a great layman’s database – certainly one of the easiest to use.
And this is, frankly, the reason I’ve never been able to master Access. Everytime something gets difficult for me to learn how to do in Access, I say, “Screw it, I can do this in Excel in half the time.” 🙂
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/14 "2009-04-14T16:47:24Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> How do I set up Excel so when I enter a value in a cell on one sheet of a workbook, it auto enters on a second cell on a second sheet of the same workbook?
This has been answered and Rick hasn’t commented on those answers, so maybe he’s all set. But just for the record, you can do this by writing some VBA without having to put formulas on the destination sheet in every possible cell where you might want to do this. Different skill set than your average user, though.
Put this code into the module for Sheet1:
```auto
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
Worksheets("Sheet2").Range(Target.Address).Value = Target.Value
End Sub
```
This will replicate all changes on Sheet1 into Sheet2, in the same cells. This can be tuned to limit where you want this to be effective.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-excel-questions/492948/15 "2009-04-14T17:43:00Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#):
>
> I beleive that the decision to print in landscape vs portrait mode is usually made by the default printer settings, so if you wanted to change them for excel, you could do it by applying the settings globally to your printer, but it would affect all other types of document you opened as well.
>
> To expand on what others have said about auto-copying cell contents, the click-drag requires soem explanation if you are not familiar with it. If you just click the outline of a cell that is currently highlighted, and drag it, you move the contents of the cell around. If you click the small little “box” in the lower right hand corner of the cell and drag it around, it copies the cells contents (if it’s a formula, it will automatically adjust it for the direction you copy it in…let me know if you need further explanation on this) into the highlighted area. You can highlight one cell, or several cells in a row or column format, basically any rectangle shaped area.
This method worked perfectly for me.
Thanks to all for the help. I don’t feel like such a dunce.