Chapter 1 - Excel - McGraw-Hill

HOW TO: Enter Data into a Workbook
1. Select the cell and type the information.
• The text appears inside the active cell with a blinking insertion point (see Figure 1-6).
2. Press Enter to accept the information you typed in the cell and to activate the cell below.
• Press Tab to activate the cell to the right.
• You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to activate a cell.
MORE INFO
When text is longer than the width of the cell, the text displays only if adjacent cells are empty. If the adjacent cells are not
empty, the text appears cut off in the cell, but the Formula bar displays the entire entry. To display the entire entry, adjust the
column width.
Edit Cell Contents
You can edit the content of the cell as you type or after the entry is complete. To edit text as
you type (before you press Enter), use the Backspace key to delete characters to the left of the
insertion point. Use arrow keys to move the insertion point, and use the Delete key to delete
characters to the right of the insertion point. To edit a completed entry (after you press Enter),
you must activate edit mode in the cell. To activate edit mode, double-click the cell or press F2.
Either method displays an insertion point, and “EDIT” displays on the Status bar.
ANOTHER WAY
Click the Enter button on the Formula bar to complete an entry.
HOW TO: Edit Cell Contents (Completed Entry)
Enter button
1. Activate edit mode by double-clicking the cell (Figure 1-7).
• Another way to activate edit mode is to press F2.
2. Position the insertion point and edit the contents of the cell.
3. Press Enter.
Replace or Clear Cell Contents
To replace the contents of an existing cell,
click to activate the cell, and type the new text.
Press Enter or click the Enter button on the
Formula bar. To remove the contents of the
cell, select the cell and press Delete or click
the Clear button [Home tab, Editing group].
When you click the Clear button, you can
choose to Clear All, Clear Formats, or Clear
Contents.
1-7 Activated cell for editing
SLO 1.2 Working with Text and Numbers E1-7