active cell | merge cells | row hide | column hide

                                                        ACTIVE CELL

Active cell is the cell that you are going to work on. When you are selecting a range where more than one cell is active,  all the cells are greyed except one which is white.

Smart way of filling all the selected cells with the same data. 

• Select the range of cells.
• Type the data 
• Press Ctrl+Enter. 

All the selected range of cells will be filled with the same data. You can see by default the white cell (not greyed) is filled up first and after pressing Ctrl+Enter remaining cells will be filled up.

Smart way of filling all the selected cells with different data.

• Select the range of cells.
• Type the data.
• Press Enter.

Go on pressing 'Enter' the cursor movement is limited within the range selected.

Default white cell can also be shifted.

• Select the required range.
• Press Tab key.

If we want to select all the cells of the sheet as active click at the extreme left top (Green in the picture). As we see all the cells are active and Greyed except one cell. Don't try Ctrl+Enter trick with all the cells selected. Excel may crash.

Even we can be selective with active cells selection. Instead of selecting adjacent cells as active, we can select active cells in the different regions of the active sheet. 

Active cells

Hold Ctrl and left mouse click on the desired cells. You can see all the cells are greyed except one and that is White. Entering (with selection on) data and press Ctrl+Enter all the active cells will be filled with the same data.

SELECTION

Selection is bit different from Active cell. We can see selection most of the cases when the desired cell or cells are copied or cut. Marching ants can be seen around the selected cell or cells border.

Copying multiple selection (except adjacent selection) is not allowed in Excel. Copying should be in a range. Also Cutting must be in a range.

Multiple Selection

Multiple selection in different regions cannot be cut or copied. It can be deleted.

                                              Hiding Row and or Column

 

This is an important function in excel. One cannot read those hidden column or row. You can make those visible when necessary. Most of the functions and features of Excel will be applicable to those hided row and column.Only the visibility of those rows and columns are off.

Hiding row & column

Rows and columns of the sheet above are highlighted with Yellow. We want to hide those rows and columns. Column K & L has already been selected in the above display, and has been greyed. You need to select the columns by clicking at the extreme top that is K & L (left click on K and drag to L). Similar in case of rows 10 & 11.When hiding column you cannot hide row at that instance.

Right click after selecting the desired column or columns and click 'Hide'. Similar in case of rows.

If we observe properly we can see column K & L and row 10,11 are hidden. Observe the region that are marked with Red. Even row and column naming series is disrupted. Those columns and rows are still there but hidden. Visibility is off.

Unhide

Now lets unhide say rows. Select row 9 & 12 and right click and then click unhide. Similar in case of columns. Select column J & M and right click and click unhide.

In the above discussion we concentrated on two rows and columns but the same procedure can be followed with a single to multiple columns and rows.

                                             Sheet Rename & Tab color

 

Sheet

Here Sheet3 has been renamed as Course. Clicking the plus (+) button one can incorporate more sheets into the workbook.
1. Select the sheet.
2. Right click.
3. Click Rename.
You can rename the  sheets according to your wish by following the above 3 steps.

The color of the tab can also be changed. The color is gradient fill.
You can change the placements of the sheets by click & drag to the desired location. Sheet1 can be moved next to the sheet named as 'Course' or vice -versa.

Right click on the sheet tab & choose move or copy. A 'duplicate' copy of the sheet will be generated and can be moved to the end of the sheet tabs. Even the duplicate copy can be incorporated into a new workbook. Select the drop down box 'To Book' and set (new book) option. Always keep the create a copy check box checked. Create a copy signifies duplicate of the selected sheet. Very handy option of Excel.

                                           Top Middle & Down Align 

 

Under Home Tab Different Alignment options

Bottom Align (By default)- Align text or number to the bottom of the cell.
Middle Align - Align text or number to the middle point of the cell that is centered in the middle of the cell.
Top Align - Align text or number to the top. Here one thing to remember text is by default aligned to the left and number aligned to the right.
Align Left - Align the content of the cell towards the left border of the cell. Here by default text aligns to the left and number aligns to the right norms can be changed.
Center - Align the content of the cell towards the center of the cell.
Align Right - Align the content of the cell towards the right border of the cell. Here by default text aligns to the left and number aligns to the right norm can be changed.
Decrease Indent - Move the content of the cell close to the border of the cell.
Increase Indent - Move the content of the cell farther away from the border of the cell. Decrease and increase is a gradual function. It can be varied by click to click.

Merge Cells -

There are four types of Merge cells options.

1. Merge & Center (By Default). Two or more adjacent cells are merged into one big cell.And the content of the cell is aligned to the center of the cell.

2. Merge Across.

3.  Merge Cells.

4. Unmerge Cells.

Video Notes
Unmerge cells doesn't mean undoing merging cells and revert to the original position. Unmerge function in Merge Cells options doesn't revert the original position of the content. In the video resultant cells are bordered for easy understanding.

Wrap Text

Wrap text options wraps in a single cell entire content of the cell. Content of the cell don't overlaps to other adjacent cells. After writing the entire content click wrap cells icon. No matter how big the content is.

Insert Comment 

 

Right click on the cell and click Insert Comment. A small yellow box comes up. There you can write comment regarding the cell. After filling the yellow box press Esc in keyboard. The cell with comment is marked with a red triangle in the top right corner of the cell. Though the content of the comment is not apparently visible but it can be read by clicking on the cell. It can be edited or deleted by right click on the respective cell.

Cell numbering | Name box

 

Cell numbering box displays the cell number by referencing row and column intersection value. You can delete the default name (as displayed) J15 and make it John. From then J15 cell will be referenced as John.And user can use John instead of J15.

Orientation 

 

Orientation simply changes the placement and position of the content of the cell. Much of use when we design cells in a project or so. Number of options are there. One can change the way a text is placed in the cell, say vertical, horizontal, counter clockwise etc. Even degree of orientation can be determined with Format cell option. 

Oriented view

 Increase Decimal places & Decrease Decimal places

We can increase or decrease decimal places in excel. Those buttons are available under Home tab.

Say in a cell we divide 2 by 3. The result is 0.66667. Being the cell selected we can increase or decrease decimal places. With Format Printer function we can port this format to other cell or cells. We can increase or decrease decimal places by clicking the respective icons with mouse.