The previous practices have covered selecting cells using your mouse and your keyboard. In this exercise you will practice selecting individual cells, ranges of cells, and rows and columns of cells by entering cell addresses in the Name Box .
1. Create a new worksheet in your Chapter 2 workbook.
2. Enter C12 in the Name Box and then press Enter. Cell C12 should be selected.
3. Enter A1:A15 in the Name Box and then press Enter.
4. Enter the other cell addresses in the Example column in Table 2-4 .
5. Enter A5, A8, B3:B7, and D4:F8 in the Name Box then press Enter.
■ Note If you are entering data in a selected range, the active cell stays within that range when you press the Enter key or the Tab key.
6. Enter A8:C10 in the Name Box and then press Enter .
7. It is usually better to enter data across in rows because you can tab across to the next
cell. When you get to the last cell, press Enter to go to the next row automatically. If you prefer to enter data going down one column and then to the next column, you can select a range of cells and press the Enter key after each cell entry .
a. Type car in cell A8. Press the Enter key.
b. Type van . Press the Enter key.
c. Type truck . Press the Enter key.
d. Type semi . Press the Enter key.
e. Type bus . Press the Enter key.
f. Type bike . Press the Enter key.
g. Type trike . Press the Enter key.
h. Type train . Press the Enter key.
i. Type skates . Press the Enter key. You now are back at cell A8.
8. Reenter the data you entered in each step except this time press the Tab key after
each entry.
In this section you learned how to select cells using their cell reference. Next, you’ll be learning to use the Go To feature to move rapidly to individual cells. This function becomes increasingly important when worksheets become very large over time. When your worksheet contains extensive data, you have to be able to make quick jumps to work efficiently.
Going Directly to Any Cell
Excel provides two methods for jumping directly to any cell. One way is to type the cell address into the Name box and press Enter. Another way is to use the Go To feature .
Entering the cell address in the Name box is the quicker method, but the Go To feature has the benefit in that it stores the cells that you jumped to previously making it easy to jump back and forth between cells.
The Go To feature can be accessed by clicking the Home tab and then, in the Editing group, click the Find
& Select arrow to see the drop-down menu. See Figure 2-8 . The shortcut for this feature is pressing Ctrl + G.
Figure 2-9. Go To dialog box
Figure 2-8. Select Go To from the Find & Select button
Selecting the Go To… option brings up the Go To dialog box. See Figure 2-9 .
To jump to a particular cell, you would type the cell address for the cell you want to go to in the Reference area, and then press Enter or Click the OK button. Next, you learn how to work with worksheets. You will learn how to select them, rearrange them, and change their tab colors—as well as adding, deleting, and hiding them .
Worksheets
Spreadsheets in Excel are referred to as worksheets . Individual worksheets are stored together in a workbook . When you save your work in Excel you do not save individual worksheets; rather, you save the workbook.
Data entered in one worksheet can be entered into other worksheets at the same time. Data can be passed between worksheets. Data can also be imported into worksheets from other workbooks or other sources.
A workbook can consist of one or more worksheets. The tabs for these worksheets appear at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Clicking a sheet tab makes that sheet the current worksheet. The current tab can be easily identified because its tab text is bolded and has a thick line below the text.
In addition to adding and formatting data, following are some of the ways to manipulate worksheets:
• Rename them
• Add or Remove them
• Hide and Unhide them
• Reorder them
• Copy them to the same workbook
• Copy or Move them to another workbook
Naming Worksheets
If you add a second worksheet it would be named Sheet2 by default. If you add a third worksheet it would be named Sheet3 by default, and so on. These names are not helpful because they don’t provide any clue as to what is on the worksheet, but fortunately you can rename them to something more meaningful.
There are two ways to rename a worksheet :
• Right-click a sheet tab and select Rename. This will highlight the tab you right- clicked (see Figure 2-11a ) and put the tab text in edit mode in which you can type over the current text.(see Figure 2-11b ).
• Double-clicking a sheet tab will also put the tab text in edit mode.
Figure 2-10. Worksheet tabs
Figure 2-11. a) The tab name is in Edit mode, and b) the tab has been renamed
Adding and Removing Worksheets
You can add new worksheets to your workbooks or remove them.
Worksheets can be added by doing one of the following.
• Clicking the New Sheet button . Clicking the New Sheet button adds the new worksheet after the currently selected worksheet.
• Right-click a worksheet tab and select Insert, which displays the Insert dialog box (see Figure 2-12 ). Select Worksheet and click OK to add a blank worksheet.
You also can use add a prebuilt worksheet known as a template. Click Spreadsheet Solutions to see the available templates (see Figure 2-13 ). There are some very nice templates available on the Spreadsheets Solution tab. There is a Blood Pressure Tracker, a Personal Monthly Budget template, a Loan Amortization template, and so on. Click a template to view it in the Preview area. Double-clicking one of these templates adds it as a worksheet in your workbook.
Figure 2-12. Select Worksheet from the Insert dialog box to add a blank worksheet
A worksheet can be removed by right-clicking its tab and selecting Delete.
Changing a Worksheet Tab Color
You can make the different tabs easily distinguishable by making them different colors. You can change the background color of each tab by right-clicking a tab, selecting Tab Color, and then selecting a color.
See Figure 2-14 .
Figure 2-13. Available templates
Selecting Multiple Worksheets
You can select multiple worksheets by holding the down Ctrl key while you click the worksheet tabs. You can select multiple adjacent worksheets by clicking the first worksheet tab you want to use and then holding down the Shift key and clicking the last worksheet tab you want to use.
Hiding and Unhiding Worksheets
You can hide a worksheet by right-clicking its tab and selecting Hide from the menu. Hiding doesn’t delete the worksheet or change it in any way. You can bring back any worksheets you have hidden by right-clicking any of the worksheet tabs and selecting Unhide… The Unhide dialog box displays all of the worksheets you have hidden. To Unhide a worksheet just select the worksheet you want to redisplay and click the OK button.
See Figure 2-15 .
Figure 2-15. Select worksheets to Unhide Figure 2-14. Select a worksheet tab color
Reordering and Copying Worksheets
You can change the order of the worksheets by dragging and dropping their tabs to where you want them placed. When you drag a worksheet tab the cursor displays as a document. A down arrow moves as you drag indicating where the worksheet will be placed when you let go of the mouse button. See Figure 2-16 .
Another way to change the order of the worksheets is to right-click the tab of the worksheet you wish to move and then select Move or Copy from the context menu. The Move or Copy dialog box displays all of the sheets in your workbook. You can either select which sheet you want to place it before or you can select (move to end) to make it the last worksheet in your workbook. See Figure 2-17 .
The Move or Copy dialog box has a check box option for creating a copy of the worksheet. Selecting this option will make a duplicate worksheet of the one you right-clicked and it will place the new copy in the location you specify in the Before sheet : area of the dialog box. Excel names the new copy the name of the original sheet plus it adds a number of the copy in parentheses. Figure 2-18 shows that a copy of Sheet1 was moved to the end and named Sheet1 (2). If another copy was made of Sheet1 it would be named Sheet1 (3).
You can also rename the copied worksheets to something more meaningful.
Figure 2-16. Drag a worksheet to a new location
Figure 2-17. Move current sheet to the end or before another sheet
Clicking the Next worksheet button displays the tab for the next worksheet giving the result as shown in Figure 2-20 .
Clicking the Previous worksheet button twice at this point takes me back two worksheet tabs. Since this is the first worksheet, the Previous worksheet button is grayed out and the ellipsis is no longer displayed. See Figure 2-21 .
If you want more room for displaying the worksheet tabs you can drag the separator bar to the right.
If you move your cursor over either the Previous or Next worksheet button a tooltip displays available options. See Figure 2-22 .
Figure 2-19. Handling worksheets that aren’t visible
Figure 2-20. Sheet6 appears after clicking the Next worksheet button
Figure 2-21. Previous worksheet button is grayed out and the left ellipsis button is removed
Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking the Previous worksheet button scrolls to the first worksheet.
Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking the Next worksheet button scrolls to the last worksheet.
If you right-click either the Previous or Next worksheet button, a dialog box displays all of the worksheets from which you can activate the worksheet you want. See Figure 2-23 .
Figure 2-22. Tooltip displays when placing cursor over the Previous or Next worksheet button
Figure 2-23. All of the worksheets appear in the Activate dialog box
5. Double-click Sheet3. Type Qtr1 Accts Receiv over the text Sheet3. Press Enter
6. Double-click Sheet4. Type Qtr1 Payroll over the text Sheet4.
7. Insert four new worksheets. The first worksheets may no longer be visible. Don’t
worry, they are still there. Drag the separator bar far to the right so that you can see all of the worksheet tabs plus extra space so that you can write longer names on the tabs.
8. Name the new worksheets the same as the existing ones except change Qtr1 to
Qtr2. Your tabs should look like those in Figure 2-24 .
9. Drag the separator bar to the left so that you only see the first five worksheet
tabs.
10. Click the Next worksheet button twice so that you can view the next two tabs
that are hidden to the right.
11. Click the Previous worksheet button so that you can view the tab that is hidden
to the left.
12. Click Ctrl + the Next worksheet button to view the last tab.
13. Click Ctrl + the Previous worksheet button so you can see the first tab.
14. Drag the separator bar to the right until you can see all eight worksheet tabs.
15. To activate a worksheet, right-click either the next Tab button or the previous Tab button.
Select Qtr1 Payroll from the Activate dialog box. See Figure 2-25 . Click the OK button.
Figure 2-24. Your worksheet tabs should look like these
16. Next you will hide the worksheets for both the Qtr1 and Qtr2 Accounts
Receivable . Click the Qtr1 Accts Receiv tab, hold down the Ctrl key, and click the Qtr2 Accts Receiv tab. Right-click the Qtr 2 Accts Receiv tab then select Hide.
17. You will now bring back the two hidden worksheets. Right-click any one of the
tabs and then select Unhide… from the menu. Select Qtr1 Accts Receiv and then click OK. The worksheet is displayed back in its original position. Right-click any one of the tabs and then select Unhide… from the menu. Select Qtr2 Accts Receiv and then click OK.
18. Let’s remove the Qtr1 and Qtr2 Accounts Receivable worksheets permanently
from the workbook. Click the Qtr1 Accts Receiv tab, hold down the Ctrl key, and click Qtr2 Accts Receiv tab. Right-click the Qtr2 Accts Receiv tab and select Delete.
19. Move the Qtr1 Sales tab after Qtr1 Expenses by clicking the Qtr1 Sales tab,
dragging it to the right until the down-facing arrow appears at the end of the Qtr1 Expenses tab, and then releasing your left mouse button. See Figure 2-26 .
Move the Qtr2 Sales after the Qtr2 Expenses tab.
Figure 2-25. Select Qtr1 Payroll from the Activate dialog box
Worksheets Qtr1 Expenses and Qtr1 Expenses (2) should contain the same data.
21. Save the workbook as Chapter2Tabs .
As you learn more about worksheet functions and options, think about how you will use the data. As you go through this book, you’ll learn more about planning and designing workbooks and worksheets to meet your present and future needs.
Summary
You’ve learned a quick way to move around worksheets and how to use special keyboard shortcuts to jump to different cells. You’ve also worked with creating and customizing multiple worksheets within one workbook. In Chapter 3 you’ll create different types of data and learn how to insert special characters and adjust the size of columns and rows. Included are shortcuts for entering the data to help you continue to use Excel in the way that best suits your needs.
Figure 2-27. Select Create a copy
Best Ways to Enter and Edit Data
In this chapter, you’ll learn how Excel worksheets use three types of data: text, numeric, and date and time.
It is important to understand the different types of data. You’ll also begin using special characters that you can’t find on the keyboard.
Excel has several tools and features to make your data entry quick, efficient, and in the format you want.
Excel automatically determines how data is aligned based on the type of data you enter. The data you enter can be formatted by using various text, numeric, and data formats. If the data you enter doesn’t fit in the cell the way you want, you can adjust the column widths and row heights.
Excel’s AutoCorrect feature can be useful for correcting commonly misspelled words, misuse of capitalization, entering special symbols that can’t be directly entered from the keyboard, and creating shortcuts for entering often used words or phrases.
The AutoComplete and Pick from Drop-down List features allow you to easily duplicate existing column values. AutoFill can be used to create duplicate cells, enter a series of values, create a custom list, or use a pattern that you taught it.
After reading and working through this chapter you should be able to
• Create the three types of data
• Insert special characters
• Change column widths and row heights
• Correct typing mistakes
• Use AutoCorrect to make corrections and to create shortcuts for entering words or phrases
• Use AutoComplete to enter data
• Use Pick from Drop-down List to enter data
• Use AutoFill to create duplicate cells and create a series
• Create a custom list
Data Types
There are three types of data that can be entered into a cell: text, numeric, and date and time.
• Text data . Text data is also known as string data. The data can consist of a combination of letters, numbers, and some symbols. Text data is left-justified in a cell. You can’t use text data in a formula.
If any other character or even a space is included in the cell, Excel treats the data as text. Only cells that contain numeric values can be used in a formula. Numeric data is right-justified in the cell.
• Date and time data . Date and time data can be used for handling dates, time, or a combination of the two. You can enter a date as January 16, 2005 or 01/16/05 or 01-16-2005 , but how the date appears in the cell depends on how the cell is formatted. Date and time data, like numeric data, is right-justified in a cell.
■ Note If you enter a date as January 15 2010 Excel will display it as text rather than a date because there is nothing to identify it as a date. If you place a comma after the day, Excel will be able to identify it as a date and right justify it.
The first column in Figure 3-2 shows exactly what text was entered into the cell; the second column shows how that entry would be displayed in Excel. You could change how the date is displayed by changing its formatting which we will look at in a later chapter.
Figure 3-1. Only these numbers and characters can be used in a numeric value
Figure 3-2. Date entered in a cell and how it’s displayed
■ Note When you are entering time into a cell, be sure to place a space between the time and entering AM or PM. The time should be entered as 11:35 AM rather than 11:35AM . If you make the entry without the space, the time will be treated as text data and it will be left-justified in the cell. See Figure 3-3 . You will not be able to perform date and time functions on dates and times that are treated as text.