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Whenever I open an Excel spreadsheet, it is displayed in a right-to-left layout by default (i.e the right most column is A and I need to scroll to the left to reach further columns).

I can change the layout by going to the Page Layout menu and disabling the Sheet Right-to-Left button.

How can I do it permanently so all spreadsheets are opened in left-to-right mode by default?

slhck
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yurib
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5 Answers5

22

May look at this: UPDATED

In Excel 97-2003 there is always a option in Tools > Options on the International tab to change the default sheet direction. But in Excel 2007 there is only a option to change the default direction in Office Button > Excel Options ... Advanced if you have installed at least one RightToLeft language.
In Excel 2010 they add this option back in File > Options ... Advanced.

In Excel 2010:

enter image description here

bZezzz
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    I took the liberty of quoting the most important parts and adding the screenshot from what you found. If the link ever goes down, that would be bad.. (see: [Are answers that just contain links elsewhere really “good answers”?](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8231/are-answers-that-just-contain-links-elsewhere-really-good-answers)) – slhck Jan 14 '12 at 11:23
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    The first link is no longer available. – Saar Aug 21 '13 at 10:24
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    The screen shot shows how to change it one time, not how to make it permanent. The following answer is accurate (File->Options->Advanced->Display) – Saar Aug 21 '13 at 10:25
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In Excel 2010: Please, follow this on the menu : File > Options ... Advanced , and scroll down your appearance scroll bar and find Display section then you can find Default direction on radio button then check it to what you want

hph
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5

This took me hours to figure out so I'll spare you the time:

Do this one time to change the default direction

  1. Alt F11 to open the VBA editor
  2. Ctrl g to open the Immediate window. In the Immediate window type Application.DefaultSheetDirection = xlLTR And press Enter
  3. Alt q to close the VBA editor
  4. Create a new workbook to test it
Isaac Rabinovitch
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Dan
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  • Oh, thank you so much! I only wanted to view it left-to-right permanently. First, I spent half an hour to find the `Sheet Right-to-Left` button, then another half an hour to make it default ... BTW, the VBA editor doesn't close with Alg-g – Serg Jan 20 '13 at 18:05
  • This worked for me on Office 2013. I specifically wanted the default to be RTL, so switching `xlLTR` to `xlRTL` worked – Jonathan Sep 27 '14 at 07:35
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In Excel 2016:

File -> Options -> Advanced -> Display Area -> Default Directions enter image description here

Yakir Manor
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3

in office 2013, what you need to do is: go to: file>options>advanced>scroll down to "Display"> choose "left to right" or "right to left" (whatever you need)

Zvi Storch
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