- Types of Data You Enter into Excel
- Entering Different Types of Data into a Cell
- Controlling the Next Cell Selection
- Using Copy, Cut, Paste, Paste Special to Enter Data
- Using Text to Columns to Separate Data in a Single Column
- Inserting Symbols and Equations into a Cell
- Using Web Queries to Get Data onto a Sheet
- Using Series to Quickly Fill a Range
- Editing Data
- Working with Tables
- Fixing Numbers Stored as Text
- Spellchecking Your Sheet
- Finding Data on Your Sheet
- Using Data Validation to Limit Data Entry in a Cell
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Editing Data
Now that you know how to enter data into a blank cell—how do you edit data already in a cell? If you select a cell and start typing, you’ll overwrite what was originally in the cell. You have three methods to choose from:
- Double-click—When you place your cursor over a cell and it’s a big white cross, double-click and the cursor appears wherever you double-clicked at, so you can go directly to a word or between numbers.
- Formula bar—Select the cell and then click where you want to edit in the formula bar.
- F2—Select the cell and press F2. The cursor appears at the right end of data in the cell.
When you’re done making changes, press Enter or whatever method you prefer to exit out of the cell and save your changes. If you change your mind about the changes while you’re still in the cell, press Esc and you’ll exit the cell without saving your changes.
Editing Multiple Sheets at One Time
You can change the exact same range on multiple sheets at the same time by grouping the sheets and making the change to one of the sheets. For example, you can enter the word Sales in cell A1 of all the selected sheets. Or you can apply a bold format to cell C2 in a group of sheets.
To make a change to multiple sheets by just changing one sheet, follow these steps:
- Go to one of the sheets you need to change.
- While holding down the Ctrl key, select the tabs of the other sheets you want to make the same change to. This groups the sheets together.
- Make the changes to the active sheet.
- To ungroup the sheets, select another sheet, or right-click on a sheet tab and select Ungroup Sheets.
Clearing the Contents of a Cell
To clear the data from a range, leaving the cells otherwise intact, such as the formatting, select the range and press the Delete key or right-click over the selection and choose Clear Contents.
CAUTION
You may be tempted to use the spacebar to clear a cell. DON’T! While you can’t see the space in the cell, Excel can. That space can throw off Excel’s functions because to Excel, that space is a character.
Clearing an Entire Sheet
To clear a sheet of all data, but leave any formatting intact, click the intersection between the headers, shown in Figure 3.14, and press Delete or right-click and choose Clear Contents.
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To clear a sheet of all data and formatting, select the entire sheet using the intersection between the headers, right-click and select Delete, or go to Home, Cells, Delete.
Figure 3.14. Clicking the intersection of the row and column headers selects all the cells on the sheet.