Tab Hound Help Page

This is the help page for the Tab Hound add-in.  Here you will find video tutorials for each button and feature in the Tab Hound window.

Please leave a comment below if you still have questions about how to use Tab Hound.  I will be happy to help. 🙂  Thank you!

XL Campus Ribbon

Once Tab Hound is installed the XL Campus tab will appear in the Excel Ribbon.  On this tab you will see the buttons for Tab Hound, Table of Contents, and Flip Back.

Pressing the Tab Hound button will open the Tab Hound window.

Tab Hound Window

The following image is an overview of the features on the Tab Hound window.  Press the Tab Hound button in the XL Campus tab of the ribbon to open the Tab Hound window.

Video Tutorials

There is a section on this page for each button or feature of Tab Hound. Each section contains a video tutorial for that feature. You can watch all the videos at once in the video below.

Sheet List

The sheet list contains a list of all the sheets in the currently active workbook.  Double-clicking on any sheet will take you to that sheet.

The sheet list is packed with additional features that make it easy to work with your sheets.  Checkout the video for all the features of the sheet list.

Search Box

The search box allows you to filter down the sheet list for any sheet containing your search term.  This is a very fast way to find a worksheet and navigate to it.  You can also use the search box to filter the list, select multiple sheets, and then perform actions on those sheets like hiding and unhiding.

Tab Hound Keyboard Shortcuts

All the buttons in the Tab Hound window have dedicated keyboard shortcuts.  Simply press and hold the Alt key, then press the underlined letter in the button name to press that button with a keyboard shortcut.

You can also open the Tab Hound window and press the Flip Back button with keyboard shortcuts by adding the buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).

Checkout the video for all the details.

Custom Keyboard Shortcut and Full Screen Mode

The Tab Hound Window can also be opened with a custom keyboard shortcut.  The following video shows two ways to open Tab Hound with a custom keyboard shortcut and the QAT shortcut.  In the video I also explain full screen mode and how to use the shortcuts in full screen mode.

The macro below can be added to your Personal Macro Workbook.  You can then assign a custom keyboard shortcut to the macro.  I explain more in the video above.  This is an alternate solution to using the shortcut key for the QAT.

Sub Open_TabHound()

  Application.Run "EC_Tab_Hound.xlam!Open_Tab_Hound_Window"

End Sub

Flip Back Button

The Flip Back button will take you back to the last sheet you were on.  You can continue to press it to jump back and forth between two sheets.

Filter Tab Colors

The color tiles below the sheet list represent all the tab colors in the active workbook.  Clicking on any of these tiles will filter the sheet list for tabs of that specific color.

Stats Bar

The Stats Bar gives you stats about your workbook.  You get the count of how many total sheets are in the workbook, plus the count of visible, hidden and selected sheets.  You will also see how many sheets are in the sheet list based on any filters that have been applied.

Sort Sheets Alphabetically A-Z

Sort the sheet list in alpha-numeric order.  This does NOT change the order of the sheets in the workbook.

Select Sheets Button

Select one or more sheets in your workbook.  This is a fast way to select multiple sheets based on a search or filter criteria.  Want to select all the green colored tabs in your workbook to a formula or page layout settings?  Click the green color tile filter, then click the Select Sheets button.

Go To First or Last Sheet Button

These simple buttons take you to the first or last sheet in the workbook.  Keyboard shortcuts Alt+F (go to first) and Alt+L (go to last)

Hide and Unhide Sheets Buttons

Hide and unhide multiple sheets at the same time.  Simply select the sheet(s) in the sheet list, then press the Hide or Unhide buttons.

You can see whether a sheet is currently visible or hidden in the second column of the sheet list.

Move Sheet Buttons

Move a sheet up, down, to the front/back of the workbook.  This is a quick way to move a sheet with the keyboard shortcuts.

Rename Sheets Button

Select one or more sheets in the sheet list, then click the Rename Sheets button to rename the selected sheets.  You can use the keyboard shortcut Alt+A to quickly rename the active sheet.

Copy & Rename Sheets Button

Make a duplicate copy of one or more sheets, and rename it all in one step.  This saves a lot of time over doing it manually with the mouse.  The keyboard shortcut is Alt+C.

Copy Sheets to New Book Button

Another time saving process that allows you to copy the selected sheets to a new workbook with the click of a button.  The keyboard shortcut is Alt+N.

Delete Sheets

Delete the selected sheet(s) with the click of a button.  The keyboard shortcut is Alt+D and you can press Enter when prompted with the warning message.

Protect & Unprotect Sheets Button

Protect and unprotect multiple sheets at the same time.  You can enter a password when protecting sheets.

Table of Contents

A Table of Contents (TOC) sheet can be added to the front of the workbook with a click of a button.  The TOC sheet contains hyperlinks to each sheet in the workbook.

TOC Backlinks

A backlink to the TOC sheet can also be added to each sheet in the workbook. This makes it easy to navigate back to the Table of Contents. The following video explains how to setup the backlinks.

TOC Sheet Descriptions

Sheet Descriptions can be added to column D of the TOC sheet that give a more detailed description of the sheet.  This description text is pulled in from a cell or named range on each sheet.  For example, if cell B3 on each sheet in the workbook contains a description of that sheet, you can quickly pull this into the Table of Contents to help guide the user.

Bypass Menu & Warning Messages when you click the TOC button to create/update the TOC sheet with one click.  As you become familiar with how the TOC works, you might want to bypass the warning messages to make it even faster to create your TOC.  You can now turn off these warning messages in the Settings menu.

Retain Formatting when the TOC sheet is updated.  You can design your TOC sheet with custom color schemes, fonts, formulas, etc.  The custom formatting will be retained when you update the TOC sheet.

Table of Contents Gallery

The Table of Contents Gallery feature creates a sheet with thumbnail images that link to each sheet in the workbook. This is a great way to see a preview of all the sheets in the workbook, and quickly navigate to them.

New Ribbon Buttons and Right-Click Menu

New buttons have been added to make it even easier to access some of Tab Hound's most popular features.

Ribbon Buttons have been added to quickly Copy Sheets, Copy & Rename Sheets, and Copy Sheets to a New Book.  This makes it faster than having to open the Tab Hound window, and you can add these buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar

Tab Right-Click Menu contains Tab Hound buttons for easy access.  When you right-click on any tab in the workbook you will see some commonly used Tab Hound commands at the bottom of the menu.  These buttons can be disabled in the settings menu if you don't want to see them.

Settings Menu

The Tab Hound Settings Menu is growing with lots of new options that allow you to customize your default settings.

• Warning Messages can be turned on/off.  Once you are familiar with how Tab Hound operates you can turn off the warning messages to make it faster to perform actions.
• Auto Close Tab Hound Window after actions are performed.  The Tab Hound window will automatically close when various actions are performed.  For example, when you click the Copy & Rename sheet button, the Tab Hound window will perform the action and automatically close.  You can turn this feature off and leave the Tab Hound window open.  This is nice when you are making a lot of changes at one time.
• TOC Defaults can be set to remember your favorite settings for the TOC sheet.  Every time you create a new TOC in any workbook, these default setting will be applied.
• Right-Click Menu buttons can be turned on/off.
• Flip Back can be turned on/off.  If you are running a separate macro that loops through all the sheets in your workbook, you may want to temporarily disable the Flip Back recording feature.

Bug Fixes

• I received a few reports that Excel was freezing or crashing when trying to close Excel completely.  I believe this was an issue related to the icons in the right-click menu.  I have removed those icons for now.  Please let me know if you are still having this issue.
• Flip Back not working when sheet name was a date.  This issue has been fixed.
• Error message when workbook was protected.  This issue has been fixed and Tab Hound will warn you to unprotect the workbook first.

Please leave a comment below with any questions. You can also contact me directly at [email protected].

Thank you!