Microsoft Office

Part I
Getting Started with Excel
Selecting ranges
To perform an operation on a range of cells in a worksheet, you must first select the range. For example, if
you want to make the text bold for a range of cells, you must select the range and then choose Home ➪
Font ➪ Bold (or press Ctrl+B).
When you select a range, the cells appear highlighted. The exception is the active cell, which remains its
normal color. Figure 5.1 shows an example of a selected range (B4:C11) in a worksheet. Cell B4, the active
cell, is selected but not highlighted.
FIGURE 5.1
When you select a range, it appears highlighted, but the active cell within the range is not highlighted.
You can select a range in several ways:
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Press the left mouse button and drag, highlighting the range. If you drag to the end of the screen,
the worksheet will scroll.
Press the Shift key while you use the direction keys to select a range.
Press F8 and then move the cell pointer with the direction keys to highlight the range. Press F8
again to return the direction keys to normal movement.
Type the cell or range address into the Name box and press Enter. Excel selects the cell or range
that you specified.
Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To (or press F5) and enter a range’s address
manually into the Go To dialog box. When you click OK, Excel selects the cells in the range that
you specified.
As you’re selecting a range, Excel displays the number of rows and columns in your selection
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in the Name box (located on the left side of the Formula bar). As soon as you finish the selection,
the Name box reverts to showing the address of the active cell.
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