This page will guide you through basic functions in Microsoft Excel. This is intended to assist you as you complete tasks in Excel related to the Install Curriculum or Installer Scorecards.
Common Excel Terms & Definitions
Edit a Cell
Highlight a Group of Cells
Copy and Paste Data
Duplicate a Tab
Rename a Tab
Fill/Autofill a Grouping of Cells
Wrap Text
Insert a New Column or Row
Expanding a Column or Row
Common Excel Terms & Definitions
Active cell | The cell that is selected and where data is entered. | Cell | The intersection of a row and a column, where data is entered. | Cell Reference | A cell reference is the name of the cell that is found by combining the Column Letter with the Row Number. For example the cell in Column "C" in Row "3" would be cell C3. | Column | Columns run vertically on the spreadsheet screen. An Excel spreadsheet contains 256 columns that are labeled with the letters of the alphabet. When the column labels reach letter "Z" they continue on with AA, AB, AC...... AZ and then BA, BB, BC.....BZ etc. | Formula bar | The bar above the column headings that displays the contents of the active cell. | Range | A group of cells that can be a rectangular block or a combination of non-adjacent cells. | Rows | Rows run horizontally on the spreadsheet screen. An Excel spreadsheet contains 16,384 rows which are labeled numerically. | Workbook | An Excel spreadsheet file that contains all the data entered. A workbook may contain several worksheets | Worksheet | A document/page within a workbook |
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Edit a Cell
Click on the cell or navigate to the cell using your keyboard’s arrow key To finish editing: Click outside of the cell or Use the ‘Tab' key on your keyboard or Use the ‘Return/Enter’ key on your keyboard
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Double click on the cell to select a specific position for your cursor  OR Click on the cell or navigate to the cell and click on the text in the formula bar  To finish editing: Click outside of the cell Use the ‘Tab' key on your keyboard Use the ‘Return/Enter’ key on your keyboard
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Highlight a grouping of cells
With your mouse, click on the first cell in the group to highlight and drag to cover all applicable cells  Right click to view a menu of options, or use keyboard shortcuts to copy, paste, or format the data. |
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Copy and Paste Data
Click on the cell to copy Right click and select ‘Copy’ or use the Ctrl + C shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + C for Mac Users) Click on the cell to paste the data into Right click and select ‘Paste’ or use the Ctrl + V shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + V for Mac Users)
 To reset the copied cells, use the Esc key on your keyboard |
Click and highlight the cells to copy Right click and select ‘Copy’ or use the Ctrl + C shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + C for Mac Users) Click on the empty area to paste the data into Right click and select ‘Paste’ or use the Ctrl + V shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + V for Mac Users)
 To reset the copied cells, use the Esc key on your keyboard |
Click on the column to copy Right click and select ‘Copy’ or use the Ctrl + C shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + C for Mac Users) Click on the column to paste the data into Right click and select ‘Paste’ or use the Ctrl + V shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + V for Mac Users)
 To reset the copied cells, use the Esc key on your keyboard |
Click on the row to copy Right click and select ‘Copy’ or use the Ctrl + C shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + C for Mac Users) Click on the row to paste the data into Right click and select ‘Paste’ or use the Ctrl + V shortcut on your keyboard (Cmd + V for Mac Users)
 To reset the copied cells, use the Esc key on your keyboard |
Duplicate a tab
Hover over the tab you would like to duplicate Right click Select Move or Copy… Select where in the workbook you would like to place the tab/sheet Select Create a copy Select OK
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Rename a tab
Right click the tab you would like to rename Select Rename Enter the name for the new sheet Click anywhere in the sheet or select Return on your keyboard Tab Names cannot include special characters such as " / \ : ? * " Tab Names have a character limit of 31
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Fill/Autofill a grouping of cells
Select the cell you would like to duplicate Hover your cursor over the small square in the bottom right corner of the cell Click, hold, and drag down over the cells you want to fill with the text Release the mouse over the last cell Click anywhere in the worksheet to exit
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Establish a sequence of numbers (or text) with at least 2 unique cells Highlight all cells in the sequence Hover your cursor over the small square in the bottom right corner of the last cell in the sequence Click, hold, and drag down over the cells you want to fill with the sequence Release the mouse over the last cell Click anywhere in the worksheet to exit This process also works for autofilling horizontally across a sheet
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Select the cell with the number/date you would like to duplicate Hover your cursor over the small square in the bottom right corner of the cell Click, hold, and drag down over the cells you want to fill with the number Release the mouse over the last cell Click anywhere in the worksheet to exit
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Wrap Text
If the cell you are editing contains text longer than the size of the cell, you can wrap the text to show on multiple lines. Select the cell to wrap In the Home ribbon at the top of the page, select Wrap Text
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Insert a New Column or Row
Highlight the column to the right of where you would like to insert a new column Right click Select Insert
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Highlight the row below where you would like to insert a new column Right click Select Insert
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Expanding a Column or Row
At the top of the sheet, hover over the line on the right side of the column Click, hold, and drag the column to the desired width
OR To expand based on the greatest length of text in the column: At the top of the sheet, hover over the line on the right side of the column Double click on the line. It will auto-size to the greatest length of text
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On the left side of the sheet, hover over the line on the bottom of the row Click, hold, and drag the column to the desired height
OR To expand based on the largest paragraph of text in the column (only if text is wrapped): At the top of the sheet, hover over the line on the bottom of the row Double click on the line. It will auto-size to the largest paragraph of text in the row
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