How to save a selection as an individual file in Excel?
When working with large workbooks, you may sometimes want to save just a specific range of cells or a portion of a worksheet as a separate Excel file—for sharing, archiving, or focused analysis. Fortunately, Excel offers a few effective ways to do this. In this article, we’ll cover some practical methods to save a selection as an individual file, including both manual and automated approaches.
Save selections as individual Excel files by copying and pasting
Save Selections as individual Excel files with Kutools for Excel
Save selections as individual Excel files with VBA Macro
Save selections as individual files by copying and pasting
This is the simplest and most commonly used method. It’s quick, especially when you only need to export one selection.
- Select the range of cells you want to export.
- Press "Ctrl + C" to copy it.
- Press "Ctrl + N" to open a new blank workbook.
- Select cell A1 and press "Ctrl + V" to paste the selection.
- Go to "File" > "Save As", choose your desired location and save the file.
Save Selections as individual Excel files with Kutools for Excel
Kutools for Excel's "Export Range to File" tool allows you to conveniently save any selected range as an individual file with just a few clicks. It supports exporting to multiple formats such as Excel, PDF, CSV, and even HTML. You can customize the output file name, save location, and formatting options—making it an ideal solution for users who need to share or archive specific parts of their worksheet without manually copying and pasting.
After installing kutools for Excel, please do as this:
- Select the data range that you want to save as Excel file.
- Then, click "Kutools Plus" > "Import / Export" > "Export Range to File".
- In the dialog box, please specify the following options:
- Select "Excel workbook" from the "File format" section;
- Check the range options you want to keep (such as keeping the formatting, row height or column width.);
- Choose a directory for locate the new Excel file;
- Finally, click OK button.
- In the following prompt box, type a name for this new file.
- Click OK, the data range is saved as a new Excel file at once.
- The "Export Range to File" tool of Kutools for Excel can save all formatting in the selections.
- Kutools for Excel's "Export Range to File" tool makes it possible to easily export a range of data to a file, either an Excel workbook, a CSV, a simple HTML, or all formatting HTML.
- If you check Open the file after export option in the dialog box, the new file will be launched automatically after exporting it successfully. To know more about this feature, please click Export Range to File.
Save selections as individual Excel files with VBA Macro
Using a Macro is an efficient way to save selections as individual files without copying and pasting them into a new workbook.
1. Hold down the "ALT + F11" keys to open the "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" window.
2. Click "Insert" > "Module", and paste the following code into the Module Window.
VBA: export range to Excel file
Sub ExportRangetoExcel()
'Updateby Extendoffice
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim saveFile As String
Dim WorkRng As Range
Dim address As String
Dim defult As Integer
On Error Resume Next
xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel"
Set WorkRng = Application.Selection
Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.address, Type:=8)
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
defult = Application.SheetsInNewWorkbook
Application.SheetsInNewWorkbook = 1
Set wb = Application.Workbooks.Add
Application.SheetsInNewWorkbook = defult
WorkRng.Copy
wb.Worksheets(1).Paste
address = Replace(WorkRng.address, ":", "-")
address = Replace(address, "$", "")
address = Replace(address, ".", "")
saveFile = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(InitialFileName:=address, fileFilter:="Excel Workbooks (*.xlsx),*.xlsx")
wb.SaveAs Filename:=saveFile
wb.Close
Application.CutCopyMode = False
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub3. Then press the F5 key to execute the operation, and a prompt box will pop out to remind you to select a range that you want to save as an individual Excel file. See screenshot:
4. Then click OK, specify a folder to locate this new file, and then enter a name for your file in the "Save As" dialog box, see screenshot:
5. And then click the "Save" button. The selected range will be saved as a new Excel workbook.
Conclusion
Saving specific selections as individual Excel files is a useful technique for organizing, sharing, or archiving targeted data. Whether you're working with a small range or managing multiple exports, Excel offers several flexible methods to get the job done:
- Copying and pasting into a new workbook is quick and easy for one-time tasks.
- Kutools for Excel provides a fast and user-friendly solution for saving selections with just a few clicks—ideal for frequent use.
- VBA macros are perfect for automating the process when you need to handle many ranges or repeat the task regularly.
Choose the method that best fits your workflow, and you’ll save time while keeping your data clean and well-structured. If you're interested in exploring more Excel tips and tricks, our website offers thousands of tutorials to help you master Excel.
Related Articles
- Export Excel data as HTML
- Save selection or entire workbook as PDF
- Export Excel data to CSV files in Excel
- Export Excel data to Text files in Excel
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