Comments on: Naming a Sheet Based on a Cell

By: Jon von der Heyden

Jon von der Heyden — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Last one, I promise... I've just discovered that this won't return False if attempting to name the sheet history. That is it doesn't raise the error, so we have to catch this in the code too:

Function ValidSheetName(strSheetName As String) As Boolean

Dim strThisSheet As String

strThisSheet = ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name

On Error GoTo errHandler
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name = strSheetName
ValidSheetName = True
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name = strThisSheet
If UCase(strSheetName) = "HISTORY$" Then ValidSheetName = False
Exit Function
On Error GoTo 0

errHandler:
ValidSheetName = False

End Function

By: Jon von der Heyden

Jon von der Heyden — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:42:00 +0000

My code above was a straight froward copy and paste. In my instance I always want the sheet name to be 'Control'. The code would be better if we were to simply restore the name.

Function ValidSheetName(strSheetName As String) As Boolean

Dim strThisSheet As String

strThisSheet = ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name

On Error GoTo errHandler
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name = strSheetName
ValidSheetName = True
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name = strThisSheet
Exit Function
On Error GoTo 0

errHandler:
ValidSheetName = False

End Function

Sub testFunction()

Debug.Print ValidSheetName("NameOK")
Debug.Print ValidSheetName("NameNotOk/")

End Sub

By: Jon von der Heyden

Jon von der Heyden — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0000

I realise this is quite old but I was browsing the web looking for a function to validate a sheet name. I was thinking a complex regex pattern would be required but I finally settled on my own function. This will work provided you do not intend on using the function at worksheet level...

Function ValidSheetName(strSheetName As String) As Boolean
On Error GoTo errHandler
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name = strSheetName
ValidSheetName = True
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Name = "Control"
Exit Function
On Error GoTo 0
errHandler:
ValidSheetName = False
End Function

Sub testFunction()
Debug.Print ValidSheetName("NameOK")
Debug.Print ValidSheetName("NameNotOk/")
End Sub

By: Dick Kusleika

Dick Kusleika — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Excel sheets are limited to 31 characters, so I changed the last line of the cleaner to

CleanSheetName = Left$(sTemp, 31)

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Hello, the information was rather useful but I needed a solution that would A) clear the old cell names before hand (preventing the previously existing name error) as well as use dated naming format (JUN 27 for example). I've included the code below that needs to be added to do such a thing in case others need this as well (in my case, I was automating segments of time sheets and payroll to update each other).

'this replaces the date format assignment
Const sDATEFORM As String = "dd-mm-yyyy"

'this goes towards the top in declarations
Dim monthArray(0 To 11) As String
monthArray(0) = "Jan"
monthArray(1) = "Feb"
monthArray(2) = "Mar"
monthArray(3) = "Apr"
monthArray(4) = "May"
monthArray(5) = "Jun"
monthArray(6) = "Jul"
monthArray(7) = "Aug"
monthArray(8) = "Sep"
monthArray(9) = "Oct"
monthArray(10) = "Nov"
monthArray(11) = "Dec"

'this goes before the assignment but after the formatting of the date
Dim tmpStr() As String
tmpStr = Split(sNewName, "-")
sNewName = monthArray(tmpStr(1) - 1) + " " + tmpStr(0)

For those that might do what we do (store payroll dates on the first sheet, and have data on each following sheet page that represent biweekly time sheet totals and dates) this might be handy.

Sub Workbook_SheetStuffUpdate()
Dim i As Long
'rename all 28 sheets to a generic unique name that we know won't exist
For i = 0 To 26
Sheets(i + 2).Name = Sheets(i + 2).Name + "dave"
Next i

'Assign data from the first sheet to all the following sheets, this is based
'on code provided above by Dick Kusleika (thanks!)

For i = 0 To 26
Sheets(i + 2).Cells(23, 9).Value = Sheets(1).Cells((i + 8), 2).Value
Sheets(i + 2).Cells(7, 9).Value = Sheets(1).Cells((i + 8), 1).Value
Next i
End Sub

As I said before, I based this partially on what I found here, and don't want anyone to think I'm trying to take credit for anything (what little credit there is for such simple code).

By: Dick Kusleika

Dick Kusleika — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:37:00 +0000

Rochelle: The basics would look like this:

Sub MakeSheetNames()

Dim i As Long

For i = 0 To 2
With ThisWorkbook
Sheets(i + 2).Name = .Sheets(1).Range("A1").Offset(i, 0).Value
End With
Next i

End Sub

By: Rochelle Walker, Sr.

Rochelle Walker, Sr. — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:46:00 +0000

All this is great, but I need to rename worksheet tab names by referencing different cells in another worksheet within the same workbook. In other words, I have Sheet1 with data in cells A1, A2, A3, etc. I want the data in A1 to be the name of Sheet2, the data in A2 to be the name of Sheet3, the data in A3 to be the name of Sheet4, etc. Please help.

By: Damien

Damien — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Hi, I am new to VBA as well and i need something slightly different.

Instead of naming a sheet based on a cell, i need to call out a sheet from a workbook based on a cell input.

please help

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:14:00 +0000

Hi, Using an activex form control to change the content of the cell. This doesn’t trigger the thisworkbook sheetchange … ? Can confirm it works if the cell is changed manually.
Jason

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:46:00 +0000

I am new to VBA like Macutan – so I really appreciated the way you broke it down and said where to put the sub and function.
I am creating different tabs for each month so I just adjusted how the program displays dates and it worked like a charm. Beautiful and thanks