Spreadsheets - Cell Selection
Cell Selection
Spreadsheets are powerful tools for working with data. However, to work with data, it is necessary to have tools to rapidly choose the required cells.
Line Selection
An entire line can be chosen by clicking directly on the line header:
It is also possible to choose a line using the keyboard by moving to a cell on the line and then pushing <Caps lock>+<Spacebar> simultaneously.
When referring to a line in a formula, simply use the name of the line.
Column Selection
Using a method similar to that used to choose entire lines, an entire column can be chosen by clicking directly on the column header:
It is also possible to choose a column using the keyboard by moving to a cell in the column and then pushing <CTRL>+<Spacebar> simultaneously.
When referring to a column in a formula, simply use the name of the column.
Selecting a Block of Cells
To select a range of cells (also called a block of cells), simply click on a cell (the starting cell) and move the mouse with the left button held down in order to highlight the required cells all the way to the ending cell :
Note that the name zone (on the upper left) shows the number of lines and colomns present in the selection.
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The starting cell has a different color (white). It is, however, part of the selection just like the other highlighted cells! |
It is also possible to choose a range of cells by clicking on the starting cell and then clicking on the ending cell while holding the <SHIFT> key down.
In formulas, a range of cells is written by showing the coordiantes of the starting cell and the ending cell seperated by a ":" :
Reference_Cell_Start:Reference_Cell_EndFor instance, in the example above, the cell range would be written as follows:
D16:F21
Disjointed Cell Selection
It is possible to choose disjointed (non-contiguous) cells within a range, meaning cells that are not beside each other. To do this, choose cells or ranges of cells while holding the Control (<CTRL>) button down.
In formulas, a selection of cells or a range of disjointed cells is written by showing the coordinates of the cells or of the ranges of cells and seperating them with semicolons:
Ref_Cell1;Ref_Cell2;Ref_Cell_Start_Range1:Ref_Cell_End_Range1For instance, in the example above, the cell selection would be written as follows:
D6;D8;D9
Contiguous Line Selection
Just as it is possible to select numerous colocated cells, it is also possible to select numerous contiguous lines. To do this, simply choose the starting line and then click on the ending line while holding the <SHIFT> button down:
To write this in a formula, the starting line is seperated from the ending line by a : :
Starting_Line;Ending_Line
In L1C1 notation, it would be written as:
LStartingNumber:LEndingNumber
In A1 notation, it would be written as:
StartingNumber:EndingNumberFor instance, in the example above, the line selection would be written as follows:
6:9
Disjointed Line Selection
To select non-contiguous lines, click successively on the line headers of the desired lines while holding the Control (<CTRL>) button down:
In formulas, a selection of disjointed lines is written by showing the coordiantes of the lines separated with semicolons:
Ref_Line1;Ref_Line2;...For instance, in the example above, the line selection would be written as follows:
6;8;9
Worksheet Selection
It is possible to select all the cells on a worksheet by clicking on the empty box on the upper left of the worksheet:
Related
- Cells Selection
- Excel VBA - Selecting the next empty cell in a row » How-To - Excel
- How to fill selected cells with given data? » How-To - Excel
- Excel - Select all empty rows/cells » How-To - Excel
- Excel/VBA - Select cells between 2 keywords » How-To - Excel
- Excel - Changing the highlighting color of selected cells » How-To - Excel