Before you start entering data into a worksheet, you need to learn one very important task: how to move around in a worksheet. This lesson will teach you how to do just that. You must first make a cell active before you can enter information in it. You can make a cell active using:
• The Mouse: You can click any cell with the white cross pointer ( ).
• The Keyboard: You can move the cell pointer using the keyboard’s arrow keys. Worksheets can be confusing places for many people. To help you know where you are in a worksheet, Excel displays row headings, indentified by numbers, on the left side of the worksheet, and column headings, identified with letters on the top of the workbook (see Figure 1-18). Each cell in a worksheet is given its own unique cell address made from its column letter and row number, such as cell A1, A2, B1, B2, etc. You can immediately find the address of a cell by looking at the name box, which shows the current cell address.
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Click cell C3 (located in column C and Row 3) with the pointer to make it active.Once you click C3 it becomes the active cell, and its cell address (C3) appears in the name box.
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Make cell E9 active by clicking it.Now that you’re familiar with moving the cell pointer with the mouse, try using the keyboard.
Figure 1-18
Cells are referenced as A1, A2, B1, B2, and so on, with the letter representing a column and the number representing a row.
Figure 1-19
The cell reference for the active cell in this example would be B2.
Figure 1-20
Use the keyboard or the mouse to move the cell pointer. Name box A B C 1 A1 B1 C1 2 A2 B2 C2 3 A3 B3 C4 Figure 1-18
The active cell is in: The B column the 2 row,
so its cell reference would be B2.
Figure 1-19 Active cell Name box
Move the active cell with the arrow keys on your computer’s keyboard
Or by using the mouse to click the cell you want with the pointer.
Chapter One: The Fundamentals
31
Quick Reference
To Move the Cell Pointer:
• Click any cell with the crosshair pointer ( ) to make it active.
• Use the arrows keys to move the active cell and to navigate the
worksheet.
• Pressing <Enter> moves the active cell down. • Pressing <Tab> moves
the active cell to the right. Pressing <Shift> + <Tab>
moves the active cell to the left.
To Scroll the Worksheet:
• Click the left and right scroll button arrows on the horizontal scroll bar to scroll the worksheet to the left or right.
• Click the up and down scroll button arrows on the vertical scroll bar to scroll the worksheet up or down.
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Make cell D5 active moving the cell pointer by pressing the <←> arrow key once and the <↑> arrow key four times.As you press the arrow keys, watch the name box. Notice it is updated to display the current cell address.
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Press the <Enter> key once.Pressing <Enter> causes the cell pointer to move down to the next cell. The Enter key is a real time-saver when you’re entering data.
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Press the <Tab> key twice.Pressing <Tab> causes the cell pointer to move to the right, the same as pressing the <→> key.
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Press and hold the <Shift> key as you press the <Tab> key.Pressing the <Shift> and <Tab> keys at the same time is the same as pressing the < ←> key. This may seem like an unusual, hard-to-remember keystroke, but it is actually used in many other Windows-based programs.
You have probably already guessed that the worksheet is larger than what you can currently see in the worksheet window. Actually, it is much, much larger: there are 256 columns and 65,536 rows in a worksheet! To view the portions of the worksheet that are currently located off-screen you can use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars, which are located at the bottom and far right of the worksheet screen.
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Click and hold the right-arrow scroll button on the horizontal scroll bar, until you can see columns X, Y, Z, and AA on your screen.If you accidently go too far you can easily move back by clicking the left-arrow scroll button.
When you arrive at the AA column, notice that the cell pointer is not currently located on this screen. Let’s see if you remember how to make cell Z4 the active cell.
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Make cell Z4 active by clicking it with the mouse.Scrolling up and down in a worksheet is just as easy as scrolling to the right and left. Try it!
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Click the down-arrow scroll button on the vertical scroll bar several times.You don’t have to use the scroll button to move to worksheet areas that are hidden off- screen—you can do the same thing with the keyboard.
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Press and hold down the <←> key until you reach cell A4.Congratulations! In one brief lesson, you’ve become familiar with moving the cell pointer around in a worksheet. Turn the page to go on to the next lesson where you will learn how to become an expert on getting around in Excel.
Scroll Right button
Scroll Down button