Goodwill Community Foundation creating
opportunities for a better life every
worksheet contains thousands of cells
where different columns and rows
intersect you'll need to know how to
work with these cells in order to enter
and edit data every cell has its own
name based on its location sometimes
called a cell address in this example
the cell I've selected is where column D
and row six intersect making the cell
address d6
the address also appears in the name box
above the worksheet to select a cell
just click it you can even use the arrow
keys on your keyboard to navigate
between cells instead of clicking with
your mouse to select more than one cell
at a time known as a cell range click
and drag and the entire range will be
highlighted you can enter lots of things
into a cell for example all of mine
contain text but they can contain
advanced properties - like formulas
functions and formatting elements for
now I'd just like to show you the basics
we'll start with inserting content into
a cell
this person has confirmed that she
completed part two of the training so
I'm going to select cell f9 then type in
X it appears in the cell and in the
formula bar where you can also enter or
edit the contents of your cell in fact
I'm going to take this opportunity to
change the X to a capital X so it's
consistent with the rest of the list now
for the next person
Walter although it looks like I've made
a mistake he's on the list twice both
here and here I'm just going to clear
the contents of the extra row by
selecting the cells then clicking the
clear command on the ribbon and choosing
clear contents you can also use
backspace or delete on your keyboard so
let's take a look at what that did it
cleared the contents of the cell but the
row is still there that's okay if you
want to delete the cells altogether all
you have to do is click the delete
command instead that actually removes
the cells from the worksheet causing the
cells underneath to shift up and fill in
the gap
just remember that there's a difference
between clearing and deleting cells so
you don't accidentally delete cells that
you want to keep now I'd like to show
you a way to save time by copying and
pasting content for example I need to
mark the rest of the people who
completed part 2 of the training start
by clicking the cell you want then click
copy on the ribbon you'll see a dashed
box that appears around the copied cell
next select the cells where you want the
content to go then click paste to access
more paste options open the drop down
menu here these commands will come in
handy if you're copying and pasting
cells that contain formulas or advanced
formatting you can also get to these
commands by right-clicking in the
worksheet for example to cut and paste
select your cells then right-click and
choose cut the original content will
disappear as soon as you paste it in a
new location there's also a drag and
drop technique for moving cells from one
place to another to drag-and-drop start
by selecting your cells then place your
cursor on an outside edge as you can see
it turns into a symbol with 4 arrows and
a pointer now click hold and drag the
cells wherever you want them to go and
release your mouse and the cells have
moved to their new location to mark the
rest of the people who've completed part
3 I'm going to use one of my favorite
techniques filling in cells with the
fill handle you can fill vertically or
horizontally by selecting the cell you
want to use then clicking and dragging
the square in the bottom right corner
the fill handle can also be used to
continue a series for example numbers
dates and other information that's
listed in sequential order see what
happens when I use the technique on my
header row it continues the series up to
part six now you know the basics
including insert and delete cut copy and
paste and other time-saving techniques
everything you need to know to work with
cells in Excel
you