Page 71 - Excel Timesaving Techniques for Dummies

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Technique 10: Making the Most Efficient Cell Selections
After assigning the range names, selecting the entire TABLE 10-1: SELECTING COMPLETE COLUMNS, ROWS,
table of data (for printing or for formatting) from AND SHEETS
anywhere in the workbook (I don’t have to be on the
To Select This Do This
same worksheet), takes only two steps:
Current worksheet Press Ctrl+A or click the
1. Press F5 or Ctrl+G to open the Go To dialog box. square formed by the inter-
section of the column and
2. Select the range name you want (data_table, row headers.
for example) in the Go To list box and then
All worksheets in the Right-click the tab of the
click OK. workbook active worksheet and then
choose Select All Sheets.
Note that although using the Go To feature to select
Sequential worksheets Click the tab of the first sheet
named cell ranges is by far the easiest way to do it,
and then hold down the Shift
you can use this feature to select a range of cells by key as you click the tab of the
entering the address of the first and last cell in the last worksheet to select.
range in the Go To dialog box as follows:
Nonsequential worksheets Click the tab of the first sheet
and then hold down the Ctrl
1. Press F5 or Ctrl+G, and then enter the address key as you click the tabs of
of the first cell in the range to be selected in the other worksheets to
the Reference text box and click OK. select.
2. Press F8 to switch Excel into EXT (Extend) Single column Click the letter of the column
mode. in the column header.
3. Press F5 or Ctrl+G, and then enter the address Sequential columns Click the first column’s letter
of the last cell in the range to be selected in the in the column header. Then
Reference text box and click OK. drag through the letters of
the other columns to the left
4. Press F8 to switch Excel out of EXT mode and or right, or press Shift+→ or
back into Ready mode. Shift+←.
Nonsequential columns Click the first column’s letter
in the column header and
Don’t forget the last step of this Go To proce-
then hold down the Ctrl key
dure, or you’ll really think Excel has gone as you click the letters of the
haywire when any move you make in the other columns.
worksheet continues to highlight intervening
cells. Single row Click the row’s number in the
row header.
Sequential rows Click the first row’s number in
Going for the Big Selections the row header. Then drag
through the other numbers of
the other rows up or down, or
In addition to being able to select single and multiple press Shift+↓ or Shift+↑.
cell ranges in a worksheet, you also need to be
Nonsequential rows Click the first row’s number in
aware of some tricks for quickly making big selec- the row header and then hold
tions, including selecting entire columns, rows, and, down the Ctrl key as you click
yes, even the entire worksheet. Table 10-1 gives you the numbers of the other
an overview of this very handy information. rows.