WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.450 Cells are the building blocks of an Excel spreadsheet, the little rectangles where different 00:00:16.450 --> 00:00:20.880 columns and rows intersect. You will need to know how to work with these cells in order 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:25.610 to organize, calculate, and analyze the contents of your spreadsheet. 00:00:25.610 --> 00:00:30.720 To select a cell, just click. You can even use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:35.410 to different cells, instead of clicking with your mouse. To select more than one cell at 00:00:35.410 --> 00:00:40.730 a time, click and drag, and the entire range will be highlighted. 00:00:40.730 --> 00:00:45.620 You can enter lots of things into a cell; for example, all of mine contain text. But 00:00:45.620 --> 00:00:50.910 cells can contain advanced properties, too, like formatting, comments, formulas, and functions. 00:00:50.910 --> 00:00:56.290 We'll take a look at those in another series of lessons. Right now, I'd like to show you 00:00:56.290 --> 00:01:01.450 the basics, while we work on filling out this list for an office Christmas party. 00:01:01.450 --> 00:01:06.250 Let's start with inserting content into a cell. One of my co-workers has just confirmed 00:01:06.250 --> 00:01:11.890 that she's attending, so I'm going to select the cell next to her name, then type an "x." 00:01:11.890 --> 00:01:16.490 It appears in the cell and in the formula bar, where you can also enter or edit the 00:01:16.490 --> 00:01:21.960 contents of your cell. I'm going to go ahead and change this to a capital "X" so it's consistent 00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:24.220 with the rest of the list. 00:01:24.220 --> 00:01:29.430 Now for the next person. Whoops, looks like I made a mistake - this person is on the list 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:35.970 twice, here and here. I'm just going to delete the contents of the extra row by finding the 00:01:35.970 --> 00:01:42.680 Clear command on the Ribbon (the one with the little eraser), then choosing Clear Contents. 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:46.220 You can also use the Backspace or Delete keys on your keyboard. 00:01:46.220 --> 00:01:51.310 So, let's take a look at what that did. It cleared the contents, but the row is still 00:01:51.310 --> 00:01:55.990 there. That's okay. If you want to delete the cells all together, all you have to do 00:01:55.990 --> 00:02:01.720 is click the Delete command instead. That actually removes the cells from the spreadsheet, 00:02:01.720 --> 00:02:06.610 causing the cells underneath to shift up and fill in the gap. Just take care to remember 00:02:06.610 --> 00:02:11.690 the difference between clearing the contents and deleting the cell, so you don't accidentally 00:02:11.690 --> 00:02:15.959 remove any cells, columns, or rows that you wanted to keep. 00:02:15.959 --> 00:02:20.560 Now I'd like to show you how to save some time by copying and pasting content. I need 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.830 to mark the rest of the people who are bringing a guest, so I'm just going to select any one 00:02:24.830 --> 00:02:31.319 of these cells that contains an "X." Then I'm going to click Copy, select the cells 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:36.260 where I want the "X" to go, then Paste. 00:02:36.260 --> 00:02:41.660 To access more paste options, open the drop-down menu here. These commands will be more useful 00:02:41.660 --> 00:02:46.620 to advanced users who are working with cells that contain formulas or formatting. 00:02:46.620 --> 00:02:51.519 You can also get to these commands by right-clicking a cell in the worksheet. For example, to cut 00:02:51.519 --> 00:02:58.379 and paste, select your cells, now right-click, then choose Cut. The original content will 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:02.810 disappear as soon as you paste it in the new location. 00:03:02.810 --> 00:03:07.170 There's also the drag and drop technique for moving cells from one place to another. To 00:03:07.170 --> 00:03:11.950 drag and drop, first select your cells - for example, this column that's too far off to 00:03:11.950 --> 00:03:18.390 the right - then place your cursor on an outside edge, where it will change to a pointer. Now 00:03:18.390 --> 00:03:25.390 click, hold, and drag the cells where you want them to go. There, that's much better. 00:03:25.450 --> 00:03:29.450 To mark the rest of the people who are going to attend, I'm going use one of my favorite 00:03:29.450 --> 00:03:34.489 techniques - filling in cells with the fill handle. You can fill vertically or horizontally 00:03:34.489 --> 00:03:39.360 by selecting the cell you want to use, then clicking and dragging the square in the bottom 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:44.560 right corner (that's the fill handle) over the cells you want to fill. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:49.620 Now you know the basics, including insert and delete; cut, copy, and paste; drag and 00:03:49.620 --> 00:03:56.620 drop; and using the fill handle everything you need to work with cells in Excel 2010.