Microsoft Office

Part I
Getting Started with Excel
Understanding the Office Clipboard
Whenever you cut or copy information from a Windows program, Windows stores the information on the
Windows Clipboard, which is an area of your computer’s memory. Each time that you cut or copy
information, Windows replaces the information previously stored on the Clipboard with the new information
that you cut or copied. The Windows Clipboard can store data in a variety of formats. Because Windows manages
information on the Clipboard, it can be pasted to other Windows applications, regardless of where it
originated.
Office has its own Clipboard, the Office Clipboard, which is available only in Office programs. Whenever
you cut or copy information in an Office program, such as Excel, the program places the information on both
the Windows Clipboard and the Office Clipboard. However, the program treats information on the Office
Clipboard differently than it treats information on the Windows Clipboard. Instead of replacing information
on the Office Clipboard, the program appends the information to the Office Clipboard. With multiple items
stored on the Clipboard, you can then paste the items either individually or as a group.
Find out more about this feature in “Using the Office Clipboard to paste,” later in this chapter.
Copying by using shortcut keys
The copy and paste operations also have shortcut keys associated with them:
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Ctrl+C copies the selected cells to both the Windows and Office Clipboards.
Ctrl+X cuts the selected cells to both the Windows and Office Clipboards.
Ctrl+V pastes the Windows Clipboard contents to the selected cell or range.
Most other Windows applications also use these shortcut keys.
Copying or moving by using drag-and-drop
Excel also enables you to copy or move a cell or range by dragging. Be aware, however, that dragging and
dropping does not place any information on either the Windows Clipboard or the Office Clipboard.
The drag-and-drop method of moving does offer one advantage over the cut-and-paste method
— Excel warns you if a drag-and-drop move operation will overwrite existing cell contents.
However, you do not get a warning if a drag-and-drop copy operation will overwrite existing cell contents.
NOTE
To copy using drag-and-drop, select the cell or range that you want to copy and then press Ctrl and move
the mouse to one of the selection’s borders (the mouse pointer is augmented with a small plus sign). Then,
simply drag the selection to its new location while you continue to press the Ctrl key. The original selection
remains behind, and Excel makes a new copy when you release the mouse button. To move a range using
drag-and-drop, don’t press Ctrl while dragging the border.
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If the mouse pointer doesn’t turn into an arrow when you point to the border of a cell or
range, you need to make a change to your settings. Access the Excel Options dialog box, click
the Advanced tab, and place a check mark on the option labeled Enable Fill Handle And Cell Drag-And-
Drop.
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