Navigating Excel

In Project Management by KathrineFLeave a Comment

The cells found in Excel, or any spreadsheet program, are very similar to a table in Word. You can add text or formulas to these cells, and you can manipulate their appearance as needed.

In order to effectively use a spreadsheet, you must be able to access the information and navigate through the cells.

Here are a few basics of spreadsheet cell and page navigation;

Basic Cell Navigation

Action Key Stroke option 1 or Key Stroke option 2
Right One Cell Tab or Right Arrow
Left One Cell Shift + Tab or Left Arrow
Down One Cell Enter or Down Arrow
Up One Cell Shift + Enter or Up Arrow

 Basic Page Navigation

Action Key Stroke
Beginning of the Worksheet Ctrl + Home (I use this a lot)
End of the Worksheet Ctrl + End (I use this a lot) 
Beginning of the Row Home or Ctrl + Left Arrow
End of the Row Ctrl + Right Arrow
Beginning of the Column Ctrl + Up Arrow
End of the Column Ctrl + Down Arrow

In addition to using key strokes to navigate through Excel, you can also use your mouse to move to or select individual cells and groups of cells.

Single clicking on a cell, selects the cell, creating a thick black boarder around the cell it’s self.

Select Cell

Double clicking a cell, causes the cell to go into ‘Edit Mode’, inserting an I beam in the cell and allowing for typing directly in the cell.

Edit Cell

Another way to navigate to a cell is by using the ‘Name Box’. This is located directly above the Column ‘A’ Heading, and it tells you the name of the cell that you currently have selected.

Name Box

Selecting multiple cells

Action Mouse Mouse & Key Stroke Name Box
Adjacent Cells Click in the 1st Cell and Drag to the last Cell Select 1st Cell,
Hold CTRL Key,
Select last Cell
Type Range in the Name Box separated by a Semi colon
Non Adjacent Cells N/A Select 1st Cell,
Hold SHIFT Key,
Select next Cell
Type Range, or specific cell, in the name box separated by a Comma
Entire Row Click on the Row Heading (i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc…) Click in the cell at the beginning of the Row
Hold CTRL + SHIFT + Right Arrow
N/A
Entire Column Click on the Column Heading (i.e. A, B, C, etc…) Click in the cell at the beginning of the Column
Hold CTRL + SHIFT + Down Arrow
N/A

Also keep in mind that each Workbook can have multiple Worksheets. These sheets are shown as ‘Tabs’ at the bottom of your Worksheet. These ‘Tabs’ are only visible if your Workbook is maximized (small Center button in the top right of your screen, to the left of the close button).

Hopefully this information was beneficial to you. If you need more guidance with Excel Spreadsheets, please contact Office Solutions ME!

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