The practical thing about your work schedule Excel template is that it can be used over and over, instead of having to build a new table from scratch each time. For every week, you can simply save a new .xlsx file. It’s even more practical, though, if you create new sheets in the same Excel table and directly paste the work schedule template into it. In this way, you’ll have a clear overview and can incorporate several weekly plans into one monthly plan.
Pasting your work schedule template into a new sheet doesn’t take much effort, but surprisingly does not work with the approach suggested by Microsoft. The problem: While content and formatting are completely the same, the same does not apply to column width. Instead, the result will be distorted, since Excel uses default values.
Here is a solution that actually works:
- In the bottom left corner of the Excel window, click on the “+” button to add a new sheet.
- Right-click on the new sheet and select “rename” to rename it by the given calendar week.
- You can also change the “tab colour” of your sheets to visually separate them from one another.
- Click on the sheet with your work schedule template and mark the relevant field in the table. Pull your mouse across the area that includes the cells A1 to l41. Careful: Marking the entire sheet with the key combination [CTRL] + [A] or by clicking on the intersection between the column and row names will not lead to the desired result.
- Use the key combination [CTRL] + [C] to copy the marked field.
- Go to your new sheet, click on the cell A1 and use the key combination [CTRL] + [V] to paste in the work schedule template. The table contents and the cell colours, lines, and font formatting will also be carried over, but not the column widths, which keep their default settings.
- The solution: While the pasted table is still marked, click on the SmartTag “(Ctrl)” in the bottom-right corner of the marked field.
- In the opening context menu, click on “default width” under “enter.” The original formatting of your work schedule template will be fully restored.
- Alternatively, you can mark the cell A1 in your new sheet and, under the start tab, click on the arrow in the menu bar under the “enter” button. Here, select the “enter content” option. In the opening window, mark “all” under the “enter” point. In a second, separate window, repeat this step, this time marking the point “column width” and then click on “OK.”
Subsequently, you should enter the current calendar week in cell C3 (including related details) so that your employees can see straight away which planning period the work schedule applies to.