Spreadsheets

Unit 1: Introducing the Spreadsheet

Lesson 1: Creating and Saving a Spreadsheet

How do you navigate around a workbook and worksheet?

The work area of a worksheet is organized as a matrix of cells. There is always one cell which is selected or the current cell. This cell will have a black border. Data entered from the keyboard goes to the selected cell. An important part of navigating around a worksheet is moving the current cell. There are four methods for moving the current cell:

1. Cursor. If you left click the mouse over a cell, that cell will become the selected cell.
2. Arrow keys. The arrow keys can be used to move the current cell one position up, down, left, and right.
3. Enter key. Pressing the Enter key will move the selected cell down one position. If you hold the Shift key and press Enter the selected cell will move up on position.
4. Tab key. Pressing the Tab key will move the selected cell right one position. Holding down the Shift key and pressing the Tab key will move the selected cell left one position.

The following simulation can be used to practice these skills. (Note: The simulation is of the Microsoft Works spreadsheet rather than Microsoft Office Excel. The commands and concepts are the same, however.)

The worksheet area is potentially much larger than the display area of your computer. Horizontal and vertical scrollbars are used to control the window display area. (For more information about how to use scrollbars, please refer to that lesson.) In addition to scrollbars the following keys can also be used to navigate around in the work area: Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End. Ctrl-Home will take you to the upper-left corner of the worksheet. Ctrl-End will take you to the lower-right corner of the active area of the worksheet. The Page Up and Page Down keys will take you one page up or down. Alt-Page Up and Alt-Page Down will take you left or right one screen.

To move between worksheets, click on the worksheet tabs. To rename a worksheet, right-click the worksheet tab name and select Rename.

For more information, see page EX-19.