This post will explain some of the new features that have been added to the Tab Hound Add-in recently.
Tab Hound Is Getting Better
I have received a lot of great feature requests for Tab Hound since it's launch. The feedback has been incredible and I am so glad you are getting use out of this tool.
Table of Contents – Back Links, Descriptions & More
The Table of Contents has been one of the most popular tools. There are a few new features that make it even easier to navigate your workbooks, and really impress your users.
Back Links allow you to quickly add links on each sheet that link back to the Table of Contents (TOC) sheet. This makes it easy for your users to quickly navigate through the workbook.
Backlinks Video
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.
Sheet Descriptions Video
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.
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.
Get Tab Hound
If you don't have the Tab Hound Add-in yet then now is the perfect time to get it. Please click the link below to learn more about Tab Hound.
Please leave a comment below with any questions or suggestions.
Jon,
now, Flip Back (though being activated) is not working at all !?
It worked before the update …
Hi Frank,
Sorry to hear you are having problems with Flip Back. You might want to try to completely close Excel and re-open it. If that does not work I would be happy to have an online meeting to view your screen and see what is going on.
Thank you
I purchased 2 copies of Tab Hound, one for work (MS) and one for personal use (Mac).
I rec’d the update for the work copy but have not rec’d it for the MAC copy. Please forward.
Thanks
KR
Hi Kevin,
I’m still working on updating the Mac version. I will let you know when it is available. Thank you for your purchase!