There may be times when you want to create a new Excel worksheet based on an existing worksheet. You can easily copy an entire worksheet in Excel to a new worksheet in the same file or even to a new, separate workbook file.

The Move or Copy command allows you to easily move or copy a worksheet, with all of its data and formatting, to a new sheet or to a new book. Read on to find out how.

Select the worksheet you want to move or copy and right-click on the worksheet’s tab at the bottom of the Excel window. Select Move or Copy from the popup menu.

NOTE: You can also select the worksheet and click the Format button in the Cells section on the Home tab on the Ribbon. Then, select Move or Copy Sheet in the Organize Sheets section of the drop-down menu.

The Move or Copy dialog box displays. Select the workbook to which you want to move or copy the selected worksheet from the To book drop-down list. You can select the current workbook (the default), another existing workbook, or a create a new book to contain the moved or copied worksheet.

If you’re moving or copying the worksheet to the current or another existing workbook, select the worksheet before which you want to move or copy the selected worksheet in the Before sheet list. Select (move to end) to insert the worksheet after all the existing worksheets in the workbook.

Select the Create a copy check box if you want to copy the worksheet and leave the original alone. Click OK.

If you’re copying the selected worksheet to the current or another existing worksheet, the new worksheet is labeled with a sequential number at the end of the worksheet name to distinguish it from the original.

To copy or move the selected worksheet to a new workbook, select (new book) from the To book drop-down list on the Move or Copy dialog box. Again, select the Create a copy check box to copy the worksheet instead of moving it. Click OK.

A new workbook is created and the selected worksheet is moved or copied into the new file.

You can also copy a worksheet manually by pressing and holding the Ctrl key and then dragging the worksheet tab to the new location. If you want to copy or move the worksheet to a new workbook, be sure to create the new workbook file first. The worksheet will be inserted after the default Sheet1.