Quick Tips and Shortcuts for Renaming Excel Tables

Bottom Line: Learn a few shortcuts and tips for quickly renaming Excel Tables, including adding the Table Name box to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Skill Level: Beginner

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Renaming an Excel Table

Normally, to rename an Excel Table, you would click on any cell within the table and then go to the Table Design tab. From there you can see and change the Table Name box.

Table Name Field

Obviously, that's not too difficult, but we can simplify the process even more.

Rename Tables Using the Quick Access Toolbar

To save a step, you can place the Table Name field right into the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).

Table Name Field in the QAT

To add the field, just right-click on the words Table Name (not in the box below it) and you will see a menu. Choose the option that says Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

Add Table Name to Quick Access Toolbar

The Table Name field in the QAT will only populate when you have a cell selected that is in a table. If you click outside of the table, the field will be blank.

Regardless of how many tables are on a sheet, the Table Name field in the QAT will correspond with whatever table is currently selected.

The Name Box

Just so you know, the table name will also appear in the Name Box just to the left of your formula bar, but only when the entire table is selected. You can press Ctrl+A to select the entire table.

Table name viewable when entire table selected

The drawback is the table cannot be renamed from the Name Box.

Keyboard Shortcut for Renaming a Table

If you don't want to add the Table Name field to the Quick Access Toolbar, one other tip for quickly getting to the Table Name field on the Design tab is by using a keyboard shortcut. That shortcut is Alt + J T A.

ALT J T A keyboard shortcut to navigate to table name field

That shortcut is easy for me to remember because it's my initials. Might not be as easy for you. 😉

Just so you know, the Table Name box found under the Table Design tab is slightly longer than the one that appears in the Quick Access Toolbar. That's one very slight disadvantage to adding it to the QAT.

If you like this tip, check out these similar posts:

Conclusion

That's it! Short and sweet today—but having the table names in the Quick Access Toolbar has been super useful for me when working with formulas and jumping between lots of tables. I hope it's helpful for you as well.

Questions or feedback? I'd love to hear them in the comments below.

18 comments

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  • Hello,
    I have my table name field in my QAT.
    As i am a lazy lazy guy i put my QAT under the ribbon so i have less mouse travel.

    • Thanks for sharing Miaousse! I should have mentioned that in the video and will update the post. Having the QAT under the ribbon is closer and you get additional space for more buttons.

  • Thanks, Jon but this time I won’t be trying it out. Why not? Because this looks as though it needs room and MS keeps on taking away more space in the valuable bit of real estate that is the QAT (particularly Autosave on/off, but also the user name and picture ) so that things the user found useful enough to include in the QAT are now hidden…

    • Have you considered having the QAT below the ribbon? there is still quite a lot of real estate down there. I will admit, I still use a stand-alone version. I don’t know how that would behave in 365.

      • Great point, Brandon! The QAT below the ribbon is another option and it now has the ability to show the button names in Microsoft 365. The names take up a lot more real estate, but are helpful if you don’t use some buttons often.

        Thanks again and have a nice day! 🙂

    • I hear ya Chris! The space for QAT buttons is a bit tight above the ribbon and the name box takes up space of three buttons.

      You can remove the Search box in the header by going to File > Excel Options > General tab > check Collapse the Microsoft Search box by default.

      This moves the icon all the way to the right and opens up the QAT for a lot more buttons.

      I’ll do a follow-up post on this to make sure everyone knows about it.

      I hope that helps. Thanks again and have a nice day!

      • Thanks very much, Jon – I took your hint and collapsed the search box straight away.
        I have also tried putting the QAT below the ribbon; it’s swings and roundabouts. You get the full width of the screen for QAT buttons, and you don’t have to move the mouse so far, but you lose one or two rows in the spreadsheet display. Collapsing the ribbon gets the rows back – plenty of options for experimentation to optimise the Excel window the way you like it.

  • I found this a couple of weeks ago…It’s my new favorite. It was such a hassle. I have it paired with resize table.

  • You can also view the names and locations of, and rename, any Table via the Name Manager – without having to select the Table first (press ctrl-F3 for the Name Manager)
    Just double-click the entry and edit (you can even add a helpful description!)
    For this reason, I always start a Table’s name with “tbl” – so that they display together in the dialogue box

    • Once you’re in the Name Manager using Ctrl+F3, you can also just up/down arrow to get to the desired entry (or press the first letter of the current name to jump down to that group before using arrows) and then use Alt+E to open the Edit Name box where you make your change and hit Enter to OK your way back out of those screens. In other words, you can do the entire rename without having to first select/touch the Table itself and without using the mouse for anything.

  • I have renamed all the tables, and looks fine looking from the name manager & i am able to create a new pivot table using the new table name. However, the Pivot Tables Fields are not reflecting the Table Names..only showing Table 1, 2, 3 etc. Any possible reason why? Thanks.

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