Selecting Cells

Selecting Cells

In order to work with a cell ” to enter data in it, edit or move it, or perform an action ”you select the cell so it becomes the active cell. When you want to work with more than one cell at a time ”to move or copy them, use them in a formula , or perform any group action ”you must first select the cells as a range . A range can be contiguous (where selected cells are adjacent to each other) or non-contiguous (where the cells may be in different parts of the worksheet and are not adjacent to each other). As you select a range, you can see the range reference in the Name box. A range reference contains the cell address of the top-left cell in the range, a colon (:), and the cell address of the bottom-right cell in the range.

Select a Contiguous Range

Click the first cell that you want to include in the range.

Drag the mouse to the last cell you want to include in the range.

When a range is selected, the top-left cell is surrounded by the cell pointer, while the additional cells are selected.

Select a Non-contiguous Range

Click the first cell you want to include in the range.

Drag the mouse to the last contiguous cell, and then release the mouse button.

Press and hold Ctrl, and then click the next cell or drag the pointer over the next group of cells you want in the range.

To select more, repeat step 3 until all non-contiguous ranges are selected.