In all the 2007 Microsoft applications you'll see a Clipboard group on the Home tab, which
is where you'll find the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands.
These commands make it very easy to copy or cut, and then paste information from cell
to cell so that you don't have to type and retype information.
Let's take a look at how this works. I'm happy with my spreadsheet that I've created,
but I do think I'd like to add the column back here so I can mark whether I've paid
my bills or not. Let's say I want to mark everything from cell
C9 to C13 as paid. Instead of typing Yes in each cell, I can
type Yes in C9 and copy and paste it in all the other cells.
To do this, left-click the cell to select it.
Then, click the Copy command. The border of the copied cell now looks like
marching ants. Now, select the cell or cells where you want
to paste the information. If you just want to paste the information
into one cell, all you have to do is left-click the cell to select it.
If you want to paste the copied information in more than one adjoining cell, just left-click
one of the cells and drag your cursor until all the cells are selected.
Now release the mouse button and click the Paste command.
The copied cell will stay selected until you perform your next task, or you can always
double- click it to deselect it. The Cut command is different from the Copy
command because it actually removes information from the selected cell and moves it to another
cell. For example, let's move Yes from cell C9 to
C15. Select cell C9 and click the Cut command.
Now, select the blank cell, and click Paste. The word Yes now appears in C15, and C9 is
empty. So now you can see how the Cut command works.
I actually do want to leave the word Yes in C9.
Let me paste that into the cell. I can use the Paste command, or press the
keyboard shortcut for Paste, which is the Control key, then the V key.
Another way to move information from one cell to another is to use the drag and drop method.
Drag and Drop moves the text and numbers in the cells and any formulas associated with
those cells. Let's take a look at my net income
for January. You can see in the formula bar that there
is an addition formula associated with this cell.
When I drag all of my income information to a new location in the worksheet, this formula
will come along. Let's take a look at how drag and drop works.
Let's select all the cells at the top with my income information.
Now, position your mouse pointer near one of the outside edges of the selected cells.
The mouse pointer changes from a large, white cross to a black cross with 4 arrows.
Keep the mouse pointer on the edge of the selected cells.
Now, left- click and hold the mouse button and drag the cells to the new location.
Release the mouse button and the information appears in the new location.
See how easy it was to drag all this information and drop it into a new location? Now, the
really great thing is that not only did it bring all my text and numbers, it also transferred
the formulas and changed them to represent their new location.
Now, instead of the formula saying cell C3 plus C4, it shows the new cell addresses in
the formula. One last thing that is worth showing you.
In addition to the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands, and the drag and drop feature, the fill handle
is another way you can quickly enter data into cells.
For example, let's say I wanted to mark this group of bills as not paid.
I can type No into cell C16 and then use the Fill handle to fill the other cells with the
word No. The Fill handle is this little square that
appears in the bottom, right corner of the cell.
To use it, just position your cursor over it until the large white cross becomes a thin,
black cross. Now, left-click your mouse and drag it until
all the cells you want to fill are highlighted. Release the mouse button and all the selected
cells are filled with the word No. You can use the Fill handle to fill cells
horizontally, as well. I can do that here for all my fixed expenses.
You can imagine how this can be a really useful tool.
Now that you know some of the ways you can copy, cut, and paste, and move data in a spreadsheet,
why don't you give it a try!