Navigating the Excel environment

Mouse

Watch the mouse cursor closely as it will indicate at any given point what you can do:

1. Click with the fat white plus sign in the centre of a cell to select that cell
2. Left-click drag with the fat white plus sign from the centre of a cell to the centre of another cell to select a range of cells
3. Use the vertical line with left and right-pointing arrows to left-click drag columns wider or narrower
4. Left-click on a column heading (column A in the example) with the downward pointing black arrow to select a column
5. Left-click on a row heading (row 2 in the example) with the right-pointing black arrow to select a row
6. Left-click drag the horizontal line with up and down pointing arrows to make a row taller or shorter

Further to the above basic selection techniques:

1. Left-clicking selects a menu tab, button, option, cell, or graphic element.
2. When selecting cells or ranges with the mouse in Excel, the mouse pointer must be a fat, white plus sign.
3. Left-click dragging from the centre of a column header across adjoining column headers to select all those columns. The same goes for selecting multiple adjacent rows.
4. Left-click dragging the border of a selected cell or range moves the contents of that cell or range of cells.
5. Left-click dragging the Auto Fill Handle (thin black plus sign) of a cell or range copies the content or completes a series depending on the content of the original selection.
6. Double left-clicking inside a cell allows you to edit the contents of the cell in the cell (instead of in the formula bar).

Importantly, selecting elements within graphic elements can be tricky. For example, clicking on a Chart selects that chart. Once the Chart is selected, clicking on a data marker selects the series of data markers. Once the series is selected, clicking on an individual data marker select just that data marker.

Keyboard

1. The cursor keys move the active cell one at a time in the relevant direction.
2. The ENTER key enters content in a cell and moves the active cell one row down.
3. The TAB key enters content in a cell and moves the active cell one column to the right.
4. CTRL+ENTER enters the contents of a cell without losing focus on that cell.
5. CTRL+HOME returns the cursor to cell A1
6. CTRL+* is by far my favourite keyboard shortcut in Excel. If the current cell has something in it, CTRL+* selects that cell and all adjacent cells that are not blank. This is the fastest way of selecting ranges of data in a well-designed worksheet.
7. Holding SHIFT and using the cursor keys selects a range — keep the SHIFT key depressed until your selection is complete. This is far more accurate and less prone to “accident” than drag-selecting with the mouse.
8. One step up from CTRL+* is CTRL+A. You probably already know CTRL+A from other apps like Word and Notepad; CTRL+A selects all the contents of a document. In Excel, if your current cell has data in it, CTRL+A selects that cell and all adjacent cells that are not blank. If you select a blank cell, CTRL+A selects the entire sheet.
9. Selecting a cell or range of cells in a row and then pressing CTRL+SHIFT+↓ will select that range plus all the cells containing data below that range. CTRL+SHIFT+↑ selects the range plus all the cells containing data above that range. ^[1]
10. CTRL+ENTER enters the contents of a cell without losing focus on that cell.
11. To select multiple non-adjacent cells or ranges, make a first selection then depress the CTRL key on the keyboard and make a second (and third etc.) selection. Do not release the CTRL key until you have completed your selection. The same technique can be used to select multiple columns or rows.
12. CTRL+~ displays the actual contents of a cell (a function or formula if one is present) in the cell itself (and not just in the Formula Bar). This is very handy for troubleshooting or to simply establish what a spreadsheet involves.

Practice

In the below example, I want to select all the data, but NOT the merged cell heading at the top as this will interfere with functions such as sorting and filtering. The solution is to use the shortcut from the technique listed in 9 above:

1. Select cell A2
2. Hold down SHIFT and press → 3 times to select the range A2:D2
3. Press CTRL+SHIFT+↓ to add all the cells below that range containing data