More Excel Basics

This page explains the basic points of Excel. Since Rod and I teach students of all skill levels, including those who have never used Excel before, I thought it was about time for a page like this.

Selecting Columns, Rows, and Ranges

For much of the time working in Excel, whether in a class or at work or at home, you need to select rows or columns, or a combination of rows and columns which is called a range of cells.

Selecting Columns

Put your cursor over the letter "A" that labels column A (below). Left-click. Notice that all cells in column A are selected. They are all shaded blue-grey, except for cell A1, which is the active cell.

Put the cursor over the letter "A" that labels column A. Left-click and hold and drag the mouse over to the letter "B" that labels column B. Let go. Now all of the cells in columns A and B are selected. Cell A1 is the active cell. Notice the little yellow tooltip that says "2C" (below) indicating that 2 columns are selected.

Selecting Rows

Put the cursor over the number 1 that labels row 1. Left-click. Notice that all cells in row 1 are selected. They are all shaded blue-grey, except for cell A1, which is the active cell (below).

Put the cursor over the number 1 that labels row 1. Left-click and hold and drag the mouse down to the 2 that labels row 2. Let go. Notice that all cells in rows 1 and 2 are selected. They are all shaded blue-grey, except for cell A1, which is the active cell. Notice the little yellow tooltip that says "2R" (below) indicating that 2 rows are selected.

Selecting Columns and Rows (a range)

Selecting an intersection of column cells and row cells is a common task in Excel. Select cell A1. Left-click and hold and drag the mouse cursor (it's white, and looks like a wide plus sign) down to cell B5 and let go. Notice that cells A1 to B5 ( sometimes written as A1:B5 for reasons we'll see later) are all shaded blue-grey, except for cell A1, which is the active cell.

The heading "Selecting Columns and Rows" is a bit misleading because you aren't literally selecting some columns and some rows. This can be done, although it is a very uncommon task. Here's how to do it:
Select columns B and C the same way described above in "Selecting Columns". Press and hold the Ctrl key. Select rows 3 and 4. Let go. Notice that all of the cells in columns B and C and all or the cells in rows 3 and 4 are selected. They are all shaded blue-grey, except for cell A3, which is the active cell.

Cell Location Visual Aids

Notice below that when you select a cell, the column header that the cell is in becomes orange, as does the row number it is in. This helpful when you are working with a worksheet filled with many rows and columns of data.