Part I: Getting Started with Excel
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Wildcard characters also work with values. For example, searching for 3* locates all cells that
contain a value that begins with 3. Searching for 1?9 locates all three-digit entries that begin with
1 and end with 9.Tip
To search for a question mark or an asterisk, precede the character with a tilde character (~). For example,
the following search string finds the text NONE:
~*NONE~*If you need to search for the tilde character, use two tildes. n
If your searches don’t seem to be working correctly, double-check these three options (which
sometimes have a way of changing on their own):l (^) Match Case: If this check box is selected, the case of the text must match exactly. For
example, searching for smith does not locate Smith.
l (^) Match Entire Cell Contents: If this check box is selected, a match occurs if the cell con-
tains only the search string (and nothing else). For example, searching for Excel doesn’t
locate a cell that contains Microsoft Excel.
l Look In: This drop-down list has three options: Values, Formulas, and Comments. If, for
example, Values is selected, searching for 900 doesn’t find a cell that contains 900 if that
value is generated by a formula.
Copying or Moving Ranges .................................................................................................
As you create a worksheet, you may find it necessary to copy or move information from one loca-
tion to another. Excel makes copying or moving ranges of cells easy. Here are some common
things you might do:l Copy a cell to another cell.l (^) Copy a cell to a range of cells. The source cell is copied to every cell in the
destination range.
l (^) Copy a range to another range. Both ranges must be the same size.
l Move a range of cells to another location.
The primary difference between copying and moving a range is the effect of the operation on the
source range. When you copy a range, the source range is unaffected. When you move a range, the
contents are removed from the source range.