Question

We have a excel file with a bunch of sheets. The first sheet is a “Search page” thing… where we want to type the name of the spreadsheet (for example in cell A1) we are looking for and then that would automatically pop up the right spreadsheet (within the same file).

I tried that, it didn’t work at all :

Function ActivateWB(wbname As String)
    'Open wbname.
    Workbooks(wbname).Activate
End Function

Answer 1

Two code sets below

1. Add a full hyperlinked Table of Contents page
2. For your specific question re finding a sheet that is referred to by A1 on the first sheet see ‘JumpSheet’ code (at bottom)

Create TOC

Option Explicit

Sub CreateTOC()
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim nmToc As Name
Dim rng1 As Range
Dim lngProceed As Boolean
Dim bNonWkSht As Boolean
Dim lngSht As Long
Dim lngShtNum As Long
Dim strWScode As String
Dim vbCodeMod

'Test for an ActiveWorkbook to summarise
If ActiveWorkbook Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "You must have a workbook open first!", vbInformation, "No Open Book"
    Exit Sub
End If

'Turn off updates, alerts and events
With Application
    .ScreenUpdating = False
    .DisplayAlerts = False
    .EnableEvents = False
End With

'If the Table of Contents exists (using a marker range name "TOC_Index") prompt the user whether to proceed
On Error Resume Next
Set nmToc = ActiveWorkbook.Names("TOC_Index")
If Not nmToc Is Nothing Then
    lngProceed = MsgBox("Index exists!" & vbCrLf & "Do you want to overwrite it?", vbYesNo + vbCritical, "Warning")
    If lngProceed = vbYes Then
        Exit Sub
    Else
        ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(Range("TOC_Index").Parent.Name).Delete
    End If
End If
Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets.Add
ws.Move before:=Sheets(1)
'Add the marker range name
ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add "TOC_INDEX", ws.[a1]
ws.Name = "TOC_Index"
On Error GoTo 0

On Error GoTo ErrHandler

For lngSht = 2 To ActiveWorkbook.Sheets.Count
    'set to start at A6 of TOC sheet
    'Test sheets to determine whether they are normal worksheets
    ws.Cells(lngSht + 4, 2).Value = TypeName(ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(lngSht))
    If TypeName(ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(lngSht)) = "Worksheet" Then
        'Add hyperlinks to normal worksheets
        ws.Hyperlinks.Add Anchor:=ws.Cells(lngSht + 4, 1), Address:="", SubAddress:="'" & ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(lngSht).Name & "'!A1", TextToDisplay:=ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(lngSht).Name
    Else
        'Add name of any non-worksheets
        ws.Cells(lngSht + 4, 1).Value = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(lngSht).Name
        'Colour these sheets yellow
        ws.Cells(lngSht + 4, 1).Interior.Color = vbYellow
        ws.Cells(lngSht + 4, 2).Font.Italic = True
        bNonWkSht = True
    End If
Next lngSht

'Add headers and formatting
With ws
    With .[a1:a4]
        .Value = Application.Transpose(Array(ActiveWorkbook.Name, "", Format(Now(), "dd-mmm-yy hh:mm"), ActiveWorkbook.Sheets.Count - 1 & " sheets"))
        .Font.Size = 14
        .Cells(1).Font.Bold = True
    End With
    With .[a6].Resize(lngSht - 1, 1)
        .Font.Bold = True
        .Font.ColorIndex = 41
        .Resize(1, 2).EntireColumn.HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft
        .Columns("A:B").EntireColumn.AutoFit
    End With
End With

'Add warnings and macro code if there are non WorkSheet types present
If bNonWkSht Then
    With ws.[A5]
        .Value = "This workbook contains at least one Chart or Dialog Sheet. These sheets will only be activated if macros are enabled (NB: Please doubleclick yellow sheet names to select them)"
        .Font.ColorIndex = 3
        .Font.Italic = True
    End With
    strWScode = "Private Sub Worksheet_BeforeDoubleClick(ByVal Target As Range, Cancel As Boolean)" & vbCrLf _
                & "     Dim rng1 As Range" & vbCrLf _
                & "     Set rng1 = Intersect(Target, Range([a6], Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp)))" & vbCrLf _
                & "     If rng1 Is Nothing Then Exit Sub" & vbCrLf _
                & "     On Error Resume Next" & vbCrLf _
                & "     If Target.Cells(1).Offset(0, 1) <> ""Worksheet"" Then Sheets(Target.Value).Activate" & vbCrLf _
                & "     If Err.Number <> 0 Then MsgBox ""Could not select sheet"" & Target.Value" & vbCrLf _
                & "End Sub" & vbCrLf

    Set vbCodeMod = ActiveWorkbook.VBProject.VBComponents(ws.CodeName)
    vbCodeMod.CodeModule.AddFromString strWScode
End If

'tidy up Application settins
With Application
    .ScreenUpdating = True
    .DisplayAlerts = True
    .EnableEvents = True
End With

ErrHandler:

   If Err.Number <> 0 Then MsgBox Err.Description & vbCrLf & "Please note that your Application settings have been reset", vbCritical, "Code Error!"
   End Sub

Jump Sheet

   Sub JumpSheet()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    On Error Resume Next
    Set ws = Sheets(Sheets(1).[a1].Value)
    On Error GoTo 0
    If Not ws Is Nothing Then
        Application.Goto ws.[a1]
    Else
        MsgBox "Sheet not found", vbCritical
    End If
End Sub