Excel 2013 - Cell basics

Every worksheet contains thousands of cells where different columns and rows intersect. You'll need to know how to work with these cells in order to enter and edit data. Every cell has it own name based on its location, sometimes called a cell address. In this example, the cell I've selected is where column D and row 6 intersect, making the cell address D6. The address also appears in the name box above the worksheet. To select a cell, just click. You can even use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate between cells, instead of clicking with your mouse. To select more than one cell at a time (known as a cell range), click and drag, and the entire range will be highlighted. You can enter lots of things into a cell; for example, all of mine contain text. But they can contain advanced properties, too, like formulas, functions, and formatting elements. For now, I'd just like to show you the basics. We'll start with inserting content into a cell. This person has just confirmed that she completed Part 2 of the training. So I'm going to select cell F9… then type an "x." It appears in the cell and in the formula bar, where you can also enter or edit the contents of your cell. In fact, I'm going to take this opportunity to change the "x" to a capital "X," so it's consistent with the rest of the list. Now for the next person—Walter. Although it looks like I've made a mistake—he's on the list twice, both here… and here. I'm just going to clear the contents of the extra row by selecting the cells… then clicking the Clear command on the ribbon… and choosing Clear Contents. You can also use Backspace or Delete on your keyboard. So let's take a look at what that did. It cleared the contents of the cells, but the row is still there. That's okay. If you want to delete the cells all together, all you have to do is click the Delete command instead. That actually removes the cells from the worksheet, causing the cells underneath to shift up and fill in the gap. Just remember that there's a difference between clearing and deleting cells, so you don't accidentally delete any cells that you want to keep. Now I'd like to show you a way to save time by copying and pasting content. For example, I need to mark the rest of the people who completed Part 2 of the training. Start by clicking the cell you want… then click Copy on the ribbon. (Note the dashed box that appears around the copied cell.) Next, select the cells where you want the content to go… then click Paste. To access more paste options, open the drop-down menu here. These commands will come in handy if you're copying and pasting cells that contain formulas or advanced formatting. You can also get to these commands by right-clicking in the worksheet. For example, to cut and paste, select your cells… then right-click… and choose Cut. The original content will disappear as soon as you paste it in a new location. There's also the drag and drop technique for moving cells from one place to another. To drag and drop, start by selecting your cells… then place your cursor on an outside edge. As you can see, it turns into a symbol with four arrows and a pointer. Now click, hold, and drag the cells wherever you want them to go, then release your mouse. There, that's much better. To mark the rest of the people who've completed Part 3, I'm going use one of my favorite techniques—filling in cells with the fill handle. You can fill vertically or horizontally by selecting the cell you want to use… then clicking and dragging the square in the bottom right corner. The fill handle can also be used to continue a series; for example, numbers, dates, and other information that's listed in sequential order. See what happens when I use the technique on my header row? It continues the series up to Part 6. Excel is actually pretty good at filling in certain types of data automatically. Take the new flash fill feature. Flash fill can enter data for you by picking up on simple patterns, and guessing what you plan to type. In this example, we'll use the feature to enter each person's first initial and last name, which will serve as their username. Flash fill eventually figures out what I want, and uses the data in the first name and last name columns to complete the series. All you have to do is press Enter to confirm… and the data will be added to the worksheet. Finally, in workbooks with lots of data, I sometimes have trouble finding a specific word or phrase that I know is in there somewhere. The Find feature can help by searching the workbook for you. Just click Find & Select on the ribbon. Then choose Find… and type the word or phrase you're looking for. When you're done, click Find Next in the dialog box. If the word or phrase is found, the cell containing it will be selected. At times, you may find that you've made a mistake throughout your workbook, or you need to swap a certain word or phrase for another. For that, you can use the Replace feature instead. I actually need to change the name of this department from Accounting to… Finance. To continue, go ahead and click Replace… and it will jump to the next instance automatically. If you want to skip the current instance without replacing it, click Find Next instead. Alternatively, to replace every instance without having to review each one, click Replace All… and the entire workbook will be updated. Now you know the basics, including insert and delete; cut, copy, and paste; and other time-saving techniques… everything you need to work with cells in Excel 2013.