Excel Intro:
Select & Navigate

Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101
Did you want Working with Numbers: 2007,2010,2013,2016  or españolIcon: Change web

Before you can do anything in a spreadsheet, you must master the most basic skill - navigating the document. For a spreadsheet, much of your navigation is done by selecting the correct cells. 

Selecting = Navigating

Selecting parts of an Excel spreadsheet is only a little different from selecting parts of a Word document. Many of the methods are quite like what you do in Word tables, but often easier. 

  • Click to select a single cell, a row, a column, or a sheet. 
  • Drag to select several things. 
  • Keyboard methods 

You will learn a lot of the keyboard and mouse methods in this section. For ease of reference later, there is a Table popup table of methods and a Table popup table of shortcut keys .

Tip Selecting is not included in the Undo list! That means if you accidentally lose your selection, Undo won't select again for you.

 


Where you are:
JegsWorks > Lessons > Numbers

Before you start...

Project 1: Excel Intro
     InterfaceTo subtopics
     Select & Navigate To subtopics
     footprintSelect Cell
     footprintSelect Range
     footprintSelect Row/Column
     footprintSelect Sheet
           Methods Popup Table
           Shortcut keys Popup Table
      footprintViews
    Common TasksTo subtopics
    Summary
    Quiz
    ExercisesTo subtopics

Project 2: Excel BasicsTo subtopics

Project 3: Format & ArrangeTo subtopics

Project 4: Groups & FormulasTo subtopics

Project 5: DesignTo subtopics

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Glossary
Appendix

Pointer Shapes

The mouse pointer has a number of shapes in Excel. The shape indicates what the effect will be of your mouse actions and keystrokes. As you move the pointer around, it may flicker from one shape to another.

Shape

Used to:

Pointer: Select cell shape: White cross

Select a cell or range

Pointer: White arrow angled left or

Drag selected cell or range

Icon: Excel 2003 In Excel 2002/2003, you can drag a selection when the pointer is over the border of the selection, with the Move shape

Pointer: Fill data shape

Fill (copies values into the cells you drag across) or fill series (copies a pattern of values, such as filling in the days of the week)

Cursor in cell, ready for typing

Entering or editing data. The cursor (vertical line inside the cell) blinks.

Pointer: Resize column shape

Resize column

Pointer: Resize row shape

Resize row

Pointer over column heading: black arrow pointing down

 Select whole column

Pointer over row heading: black arrow pointing right

 Select whole row

Pointer: Format Painter shape

Copy cell formats with Format Painter