Microsoft Office

Working with Cells
and Ranges
Most of the work you do in Excel involves cells and ranges.
Understanding how best to manipulate cells and ranges will save you
time and effort. This chapter discusses a variety of techniques that you
can use to help increase your efficiency.
Understanding Cells and Ranges
A cell is a single element in a worksheet that can hold a value, some text, or a formula.
A cell is identified by its address, which consists of its column letter and
row number. For example, cell D12 is the cell in the fourth column and the
twelfth row.
A group of cells is called a range. You designate a range address by specifying its
upper-left cell address and its lower-right cell address, separated by a colon.
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding Excel’s cells and
ranges
Selecting cells and ranges
Copying or moving ranges
Using names to work with
ranges
Adding comments to cells
Here are some examples of range addresses:
C24
A1:B1
A range that consists of a single cell.
Two cells that occupy one row and two
columns.
A1:A100 100 cells in column A.
A1:D4
C1:C1048576
A6:XFD6
A1:XFD1048576
16 cells (four rows by four columns).
An entire column of cells; this range
also can be expressed as C:C.
An entire row of cells; this range also
can be expressed as 6:6.
All cells in a worksheet.
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