CHAPTER 2

Navigating and Working with

Worksheets

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to navigate the worksheet using the mouse and keyboard commands. You’ll
also become familiar with shortcuts that help you move quickly between cells and begin practicing working
with multiple worksheets within the same workbook.
After reading and working through this chapter you’ll be able to
• Move between cells using the keyboard
• Select cells
• Work with worksheets
• Move between worksheets
Excel is designed for the beginner to learn and use very quickly. The exercises guide you as you discover
how to create, enter, and manipulate data using basic functions. Remember, you build each worksheet cell
by cell to meet your needs. It is easy to make changes as you become familiar with Excel’s features.

Moving Between Cells Using the Keyboard

Because there are so many cells, you need a quick way to move around the worksheet. Knowing your
movement keys saves time by getting to the desired cell in the shortest amount of time. Click a cell to make it
active or use one of the key combinations in Table 2-1 to jump to a particular cell.

© David Slager 2016 27

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CHAPTER 2 ■ NAVIGATING AND WORKING WITH WORKSHEETS

Table 2-1. Shortcut Movement Keys to Jump to Cells

To change the active cell Press

Down to the next cell Enter
Up to the next cell Shift + Enter
Next cell Tab
Previous cell Shift + Tab
First cell in the row Home
Next cell in the direction of the arrow Up, down, left, or right arrow keys
Last cell in worksheet that contains data Ctrl + End
First cell in worksheet Ctrl + Home
Cell in next screen Page Down
Cell in previous screen Page Up

EXERCISE 2-1: MOVING AROUND THE WORKSHEET

This exercise will introduce you to the basic techniques for moving around using the keyboard.
1. Start your Excel program.
2. Select File ➤ New, and then select Blank workbook.
3. Enter the data on the Sheet1 tab as shown in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1. Enter these values into the worksheet

4. Click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar. Since you haven’t
previously saved this file, the Save As window displays.

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 CHAPTER 2 ■ NAVIGATING AND WORKING WITH WORKSHEETS

You can save the file in OneDrive which is a free storage location that Microsoft provides on
the Web. The benefit of saving your workbook to OneDrive is that you can access the workbook
anywhere in the world as long as you have access to the Internet. Another benefit is that
you can allow other people access to it without having to e-mail it to them. If you give others
permission, they can make changes to the workbook or enter comments in the workbook.
5. Click This PC. Excel displays locations you have used most recently as shown in
Figure 2-2. Click Documents, which should be displayed because you used it in
Chapter 1. Excel opens the Save As dialog box.

Figure 2-2. The File tab, also called Backstage

6. Enter Chapter 2 in the File Name text box of the Save As window and click the
Save button.
Use the Tab key
Pressing the Tab key moves the cursor one cell to the right of the current cell.
1. Click cell C6.
2. Press the Tab key to move to cell D6.
3. Press the Tab key to move to cell E6.
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CHAPTER 2 ■ NAVIGATING AND WORKING WITH WORKSHEETS

Use the Shift+ Tab key

Holding down the Shift key while pressing the Tab key moves the cursor one cell to the left.
1. Hold down the Shift key while you press the Tab key to move to cell D6
2. Hold down the Shift key while you press the Tab key to move to cell C6
3. Hold down the Shift key while you press the Tab key to move to cell B6
Use the Arrow keys
Use Arrow keys to Move to the next cell in the direction of the arrow key
1. Click the up arrow key to move to cell B5.
2. Click the right arrow key to move to cell C5.
3. Click the down arrow key to move to cell C6.
4. Click the left arrow key to move to cell B6.
Ctrl + End Key
Holding down the Ctrl key while pressing the End key will move the cursor to the last cell that contains data.
1. Hold down the Ctrl Key and Press the End key to go to cell F9.
Ctrl + Home Key
Holding down the Ctrl Key while pressing the Home Key will always move the cursor to Cell A1.
1. Hold down the Ctrl Key and press the Home Key to go to cell A1.
PageDown Key
Pressing the PageDown Key moves the cursor down one screen
1. Press the PageDown key twice to go down two screens.
PageUp Key
Pressing the PageUp key moves the cursor up one screen.
2. Press the PageUp key twice to go up two screens.

3. Click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar.

In this section, you’ve learned to use the keyboard to move between cells while entering data. Next,
you’ll learn how to select cells, first by using a Mouse and then by using a keyboard.

Selecting Cells
There are several ways to select individual cells, a range of cells, a combination of individual cells and cell
ranges, and even cells that are nonadjacent to each other. Selecting multiple cells is useful for applying
formatting to multiple cells at the same time or when creating formulas or deleting or inserting a complete
row or column.

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While you are dragging across a block of adjacent cells (see Figure 2-3), Excel displays in the Name Box
how many rows and columns are in that block. The Name Box in Figure 2-3 shows that the block of cells
spans 3 rows and 2 columns.

Figure 2-3. Three rows and two columns

Selecting Cells Using a Mouse

Table 2-2 tells how to select different worksheet ranges using a mouse.

Table 2-2. How to Select Different Worksheet Ranges Using a Mouse

To select this Do this

Column Position the cell pointer on the column header (a letter) and then click the left
mouse button.
Row Position the cell pointer on the row header (a number) and then click the left
mouse button.
Adjacent cells Drag with mouse to select the cells in the range—or, Click the first cell of the
range, hold down the Shift key, and click the last cell in the range.
Nonadjacent cells Hold down the Ctrl Key while clicking a column header, row header, or specific cells.
All cells in worksheet
Click the Select All button .

EXERCISE 2-3: SELECTING CELLS USING A MOUSE

In this exercise, you select different ranges of cells. Although we’ll cover formatting in detail later, you
can get an idea of how to use them in this simple exercise.
Selecting Entire Rows or Columns
1. Open the workbook named Chapter 2, which you created in the previous exercise.
2. Position your cursor on column header B. You will see a down arrow; hold down
the left mouse button and drag across column head C so that columns B and C are
both selected. As you are dragging, you will see a box that displays the number of
rows and columns that are currently selected. See Figure 2-4.

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