This exercise takes you through the process of copying formatting that has been applied to one cell to other cells.
1. If you have closed your workbook from the last practice you can open the Chapter 4
workbook, then create a new worksheet named “Format.”
Figure 4-52. Result of using AutoFill
Figure 4-53. Format Painter selected with cell A1 active
5. Type the word Data in C8. Use the AutoFill Handle to drag to E9. Type Data in C12
and use the AutoFill Handle to drag to C13.
6. Format cell A1 by selecting the following options from the Font group: Bold, Italic,
and Underline; change the text color to red.
7. Click the Center button on the Alignment tab.
8. With cell A1 selected, click the Format Painter button. The Format Painter button
should now be highlighted. The mouse pointer changes to a block plus sign with a paintbrush. See Figure 4-53 .
9. Click cell B2. Cell B2 takes on all the formatting that you applied to cell A1. The Format Painter button should no longer be highlighted. Your mouse pointer should return to .
10. Select cell A1. This time double-click the Format Painter button. The mouse pointer
will stay as and you can keep copying the formatting until you turn off the format painter.
11. Drag across cells C3:E9. Those cells now have the same formatting as cell A1.
12. Drag across cells C12 and C13. Those cells now have the same formatting as cell
A1. See Figure 4-54 .
Figure 4-54. Result of applying the Format Painter
13. Click the Format Painter button again to turn it off. Your mouse pointer should return
to
14. Since you dragged across cell C6 when you copied the formatting, if you type
something in this cell it should take on the same formatting as cell A1. Type horse in cell C6.
15. If you want to clear the formatting from a cell(s), you can clear just the formatting
and leave the data in the cell. Drag across cells C6:E8. Click the down arrow for the Clear button located in the Editing group. Click Clear Formats. See Figure 4-55 .
16. Click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
You have been using commands from the Ribbon. Most of these commands are more quickly accessible from a mini-toolbar or the context menu which brings up commands that relate to what you are currently working on.
Using the Mini-Toolbars and the Context Menu
You have gone through Excel’s tools for formatting both numeric and text data. You will no doubt be using these tools often; therefore Microsoft gives you quick access to them via the mini-toolbars. There are two different size mini-toolbars.
If you select any text within a cell you will see the smaller of the two mini-toolbars as shown in Figure 4-56 . Moving your mouse pointer away from the mini-toolbar will make it fade away. When you bring your cursor back toward the mini-toolbar it will fade back in. You can remove the mini-toolbar by doing one of the following:
• Move your cursor into the Ribbon area.
• Click another cell.
• Move the cursor far enough away from the toolbar until it is no longer visible.
You will need to reselect text in the cell if you want to get the mini-toolbar back. This smaller mini- toolbar only includes tools from the Font group.
Figure 4-55. Clear options
Figure 4-56. Smaller mini-toolbar
The larger mini-toolbar shown in Figure 4-57 includes buttons from the Font, Alignment, and Number groups along with the Format Painter from the Clipboard group. This mini-toolbar can be accessed by right- clicking any cell even if the cell is empty.
A context menu (also known as a shortcut menu) is also displayed when you right-click a cell or an object. What items are displayed in the context menu depends upon the object you clicked and what you are working on at the time. You can make a selection from either the mini-toolbar or the shortcut menu. If you decide you don’t want to use either one just click another cell and they both will disappear.
Notice that the context menu has some options that have three dots after them. See Figure 4-58 . The three dots are called an ellipsis . The ellipsis signifies that another dialog box will be opened when this option is selected. For example, clicking the Insert… option on the context menu will bring up the Insert window. Some of the options on the context menu have an arrow. Moving your mouse pointer over an arrow brings up a submenu of additional options.
Figure 4-57. Context menu and larger mini-toolbar
Inserting, Deleting, Hiding, and Unhiding Rows and Columns
You can add new blank rows between existing spreadsheet rows. You can also delete rows to remove data or to remove blank rows.
You can hide a single row or multiple rows of data from the view of users. Rows that have been hidden can be unhidden. You don’t have to unhide all the rows only the ones you choose.
Hiding and Unhiding Columns and Rows
Columns and rows can be hidden and unhidden so that the users can concentrate on only the data that is necessary and relevant to them.
Hiding Columns and Rows
There are many reasons for hiding columns or rows in a spreadsheet.
• There is too much data to display on a single screen so you hide the data you really don’t need to see.
• You want to hide some of the data so it is not printed.
• The data is not relevant to the user.
• You want to hide the formulas.
• You don’t want the user to see some of the data.
Hiding a column or row does not affect the data in that column or row, nor does it prevent it from being referenced.
A single column or row of data can be hidden as well as multiple columns or rows. If you are hiding multiple columns or rows they do not need to be adjacent.
How to hide a single column or row 1. Right-click the column or row header.
2. Select Hide from the context menu.
Figure 4-58. Context menu
How to hide adjacent columns or rows
1. Drag across the headers of the columns or rows you want to hide.
2. Right-click the selected headers.
3. Select Hide from the context menu.
How to hide nonadjacent columns and rows 1. Click a column header.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key while you click other column heads.
3. Right-click one of the selected column heads.
4. Select Hide from the context menu.
Use the same steps that you do for nonadjacent columns.
■ Note You can’t select columns and rows in the same operation. You must first hide either columns or rows and then do the other.
Unhiding Columns and Rows
Columns and rows that you hide will remain hidden until you run the Unhide command.
Unhide All Columns and Rows
You can unhide all columns and rows by first clicking the Select All button located to the left of row head A and then right-clicking any header and selecting Unhide from the context menu. If you wanted to unhide columns and rows from multiple worksheets, you would select those sheet tabs before performing these steps.
Unhide Adjacent Columns or Rows
In the worksheet example shown in Figure 4-59 columns B and C are hidden.
Columns B and C can be unhidden by dragging across Column heads A and D, right-clicking, and then selecting Unhide.
Rows would be unhidden using the same steps, except of course you would use the Row heads rather than the Column heads.
Unhide Nonadjacent Columns or Rows
In the worksheet example shown in Figure 4-60 columns B and C are hidden, and so are columns F, G, and H.
Figure 4-59. Columns B and C are hidden
1. Type A1 in the Name Box and then press Enter.
2. Click the Home Tab on the Ribbon.
3. In the Cells group click the Format button.
4. Select Hide & Unhide from the menu and then select Unhide Columns . See Figure 4-61 .
Figure 4-61. Hide & Unhide options
Unhide Row 1
1. Type A1 in the Name Box and then press the Enter key.
2. Click the Home Tab on the Ribbon.
3. In the Cells group, click the Format button.
4. Select Hide & Unhide from the menu and then select Unhide Rows .