Part I: Getting Started with Excel
Selecting ranges
To perform an operation on a range of cells in a worksheet, you must first select the range.
For example, if you want to make the text bold for a range of cells, you must select the
range and then choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Bold (or press Ctrl+B).When you select a range, the cells appear highlighted. The exception is the active cell,
which remains its normal color. Figure 4.1 shows an example of a selected range (A4:D8) in
a worksheet. Cell A4, the active cell, is in the selected range but not highlighted.FIGURE 4.1
When you select a range, it appears highlighted, but the active cell within the range is not
highlighted.You can select a range in several ways:■ (^) Left-click and drag over the range. If you drag to the end of the window, the work-
sheet will scroll.
■ (^) Press the Shift key while you use the navigation keys to select a range.
■ (^) Press F8 to enter Extend Selection mode (Extend Selection appears in the status
bar). In this mode, click the lower-right cell of the range or use the navigation keys
to extend the range. Press F8 again to exit Extend Selection mode.
■ (^) Type the cell or range address into the Name box (located to the left of the Formula
bar) and press Enter. Excel selects the cell or range that you specified.
■ (^) Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To (or press F5 or Ctrl+G) and enter a
range’s address manually in the Go To dialog box. When you click OK, Excel selects
the cells in the range that you specified.
While you’re selecting a range that contains more than one cell, Excel displays the number of rows and columns in
your selection in the Name box (which is to the left of the Formula bar). When you finish making the selection, the
Name box reverts to showing the address of the active cell.