Microsoft Office

Working with Cells and Ranges 5
Selecting complete rows and columns
Often, you’ll need to select an entire row or column. For example, you may want to apply the same numeric
format or the same alignment options to an entire row or column. You can select entire rows and columns
in much the same manner as you select ranges:
TIP
n
n
n
n
n
Click the row or column border to select a single row or column.
To select multiple adjacent rows or columns, click a row or column border and drag to highlight
additional rows or columns.
To select multiple (nonadjacent) rows or columns, press Ctrl while you click the row or column
borders that you want.
Press Ctrl+spacebar to select a column. The column of the active cell (or columns of the selected
cells) is highlighted.
Press Shift+spacebar to select a row. The row of the active cell (or rows of the selected cells) is
highlighted.
Press Ctrl+A to select all cells in the worksheet, which is the same as selecting all rows and all
columns. You can also click the area at the intersection of the row and column borders to
select all cells.
Selecting noncontiguous ranges
Most of the time, the ranges that you select are contiguous — a single rectangle of cells. Excel also enables
you to work with noncontiguous ranges, which consist of two or more ranges (or single cells) that aren’t next
to each other. Selecting noncontiguous ranges is also known as a multiple selection. If you want to apply the
same formatting to cells in different areas of your worksheet, one approach is to make a multiple selection.
When the appropriate cells or ranges are selected, the formatting that you select is applied to them all.
Figure 5.2 shows a noncontiguous range selected in a worksheet. (Three ranges are selected.)
FIGURE 5.2
Excel enables you to select noncontiguous ranges.
73