If your spreadsheet is a 3 ring binder, then each worksheet is a page.

In this video, I will teach you how to insert a blank sheet, and how to delete an existing sheet, using Excel shortcuts for both PC and Mac.

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Full Video Transcript:

I don’t know about you, but fumbling around for that little plus button at the bottom of your screen just to insert a new worksheet is kind of like fumbling for your checkbook at the supermarket. There’s a better way, guys. In this video, I’m going to teach you how to insert and delete tabs, which are actually just called worksheets.

Inserting and deleting tabs or worksheets is one of those foundational skills that, if you don’t have to touch the mouse to accomplish this, you’re actually going to save yourself time every time you do it.

So, the way to insert a blank worksheet is to hit SHIFT+F11. When you hit SHIFT+F11, what you’ll notice is, based on where you are, it will actually insert a blank sheet to the left of your current highlighted worksheet. That’s really important if you want to actually save yourself a step of repositioning. You just choose the worksheet you want, then you insert the blank worksheet.

On the flip side, if you want to delete the active worksheet, be very careful. Choose the one you want first. On the PC, you’re going to hit ALT+H for home, D for the delete, and S for sheet. It’s going to ask you, “Are you sure you want to do this?” If there’s anything in it. If there’s not anything in it, it will actually just delete for you immediately.

That is the trick to it, and the memory trick to actually remember this is think of a shrieking Frankenstein saying, “I want a fresh start,” all right? Those metal bars on his neck kind of look like an 11, so shrieking stands for shift, Frankenstein is for the F, and the 11 are those metal bars. Shrieking Frankenstein, “I want a fresh start.” That’s your mental image to help you remember that shortcut.

To delete the sheet, it’s just, “I’m happy to delete a sheet,” and you’ve got to hit that ALT key first.

On the Mac, same thing. SHIFT+F11 to insert the blank worksheet. You have to actually customize your keyboard shortcut to get the delete active worksheet. There’s a separate video on how to do that. But again, the idea is the same.

Couple of things to keep in mind. You want to make sure that you are careful with this, and when you delete a sheet, there’s no undo. You cannot undo the deletion of a sheet, therefore save a copy of your work before you do it to be on the safe side.

Don’t forget to visit test.excelshir.com, where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources, such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching, see you next time, and you know that Excel love I keep talking about? Keep sharing it.