I have an annoying problem with excel.
I use excel to record deliveries to ourselves.
My first column is date of delivery.
Sometimes when I open excel it shows column B onwards with column A hidden
and I have to navigate to make the column show. This is all very well but
when I am busy I forget and just enter info in the columns shown. Even when
I enter at the end of the line it goes back to column B. So the situation I
get is that I end up with a load of lines without a date in them.
Is there any way I can set Excel to open to show all Columns on opening so
that I don't miss to put any info in?

When you say hidden, do you mean that you have to navigate to
Format|Column|Unhide or do you mean you have to navigate by scrolling back to
column A using the scrollbar?

I interpret it as you are having to scroll back to column A to enter data.
When you save your spreadsheet, it will save in the last view you were
looking. If you are entering data in column T and you save it, when you open
the file, your view will be the last cell that you saved data. When you are
complete with your file and ready to save it, just click on A1, or whatever
cell you want to open to the next time, and then save your work.

If you have to use the menu to actually unhide the column, I have no idea
what is causing that.

"Ruth" wrote:

I have an annoying problem with excel.
I use excel to record deliveries to ourselves.
My first column is date of delivery.
Sometimes when I open excel it shows column B onwards with column A hidden
and I have to navigate to make the column show. This is all very well but
when I am busy I forget and just enter info in the columns shown. Even when
I enter at the end of the line it goes back to column B. So the situation I
get is that I end up with a load of lines without a date in them.
Is there any way I can set Excel to open to show all Columns on opening so
that I don't miss to put any info in?

Yes I have to scroll back. Thanks I'll try your suggestion.
"Randy L" wrote:

When you say hidden, do you mean that you have to navigate to
Format|Column|Unhide or do you mean you have to navigate by scrolling back to
column A using the scrollbar?

I interpret it as you are having to scroll back to column A to enter data.
When you save your spreadsheet, it will save in the last view you were
looking. If you are entering data in column T and you save it, when you open
the file, your view will be the last cell that you saved data. When you are
complete with your file and ready to save it, just click on A1, or whatever
cell you want to open to the next time, and then save your work.

If you have to use the menu to actually unhide the column, I have no idea
what is causing that.

"Ruth" wrote:

I have an annoying problem with excel.
I use excel to record deliveries to ourselves.
My first column is date of delivery.
Sometimes when I open excel it shows column B onwards with column A hidden
and I have to navigate to make the column show. This is all very well but
when I am busy I forget and just enter info in the columns shown. Even when
I enter at the end of the line it goes back to column B. So the situation I
get is that I end up with a load of lines without a date in them.
Is there any way I can set Excel to open to show all Columns on opening so
that I don't miss to put any info in?

The easiest way to do this is to just go back to your column 1 before
you save the file, and it should open up in that cell the next time you
open the book. If it's really causing you issue, though, and you want
it automated so that you don't have to think about it, you could use a
little macro to do this. The only thing that you need to be aware of is
that you will get a macro warning every time you open the workbook once
you put a macro in, unless you decrease your security settings.

You have a couple of options. You could put a macro in to the specific
sheet to always go to column 1 when you activate it. (Move to sheet 2,
and when you come back to sheet 1 your cursor would move to column 1).
to do this:

-Right click the worksheet you want this to work on and choose "View Code"
-Paste the following in the window that opens:

Private Sub Worksheet_Activate()
Cells(Selection.Row, 1).Select
End Sub

-Close the Visual Basic Editor (the program you are looking at)
-Save your workbook, select a cell somewhere on your sheet, move to
another sheet and back. Your cursor will be on the same line, but in
column 1.

ALTERNATELY
You may only want to run this when the workbook first opens. If that is
the case, then do this instead:
-Press Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE)
-Press Ctrl+R to show the windows explorer at left if it is not showing
already
-Find you project and browse through it until you find "ThisWorkbook"
under the Microsoft Excel Objects
-Double click ThisWorkbook
-In the pane that opens at right, paste the following code:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
With Worksheets("Sheet 1")
.Activate
.Cells(Selection.Row, 1).Select
End With
End Sub

-Change Sheet 1 to the name of your worksheet
-Save the project and exit the VBE
-Close and open your workbook.

This works similar to the first set of code, but it will always take you
to your data sheet when you open the workbook, even if you saved it on a
different worksheet. Again, it will move you to column 1 of the row you
were in when you saved the workbook.

HTH,

Ken Puls, CMA - Microsoft MVP (Excel)
www.excelguru.ca

Ruth wrote:
I have an annoying problem with excel.
I use excel to record deliveries to ourselves.
My first column is date of delivery.
Sometimes when I open excel it shows column B onwards with column A hidden
and I have to navigate to make the column show. This is all very well but
when I am busy I forget and just enter info in the columns shown. Even when
I enter at the end of the line it goes back to column B. So the situation I
get is that I end up with a load of lines without a date in them.
Is there any way I can set Excel to open to show all Columns on opening so
that I don't miss to put any info in?