5.4 Editing Data In A Cell

Editing simply implies making changes by inserting new data or deleting undesired data. It can also mean replacing the existing data by inserting new data. Excel offers a variety of techniques to modify text or numeric data in a worksheet.

5.4.1 Copying Entries

You can copy an entry or group of entries anywhere within the same worksheet or in a different worksheet. The copy operation involves the use of two commands Copy and Paste. To work on these you can either select form the Edit menu or you can click the equivalent buttons on the Standard Toolbar.

Before we start first open your sales.xls file and follow the actions listed below: -

1.     Select the cell range from A1 to E9 (A1:E9).

2.     Click on the Copy button alternatively you can choose from Edit Menu. You will see that a dotted line starts circulating the selected area. (Excel stores the copied files on the Clipboard, like other window-based applications.{Clipboard is a temporary storage in the memory of the computer and temporarily stores the cut or copied data. Each item you cut or copy overwrites the previous one. Also the contents of clipboard will get lost when computer is switched off})

3.     Select cell A11.

4.     Click on the Paste button, alternatively you can choose Paste from the Edit menu. Excel pastes the copied entries into the cell range. (See figure)

 5.    Click anywhere on the screen and press Escape key to clear the selection and the dotted line.

5.4.2 Using Shortcut Menus

1.       Select the range B3 to B9.

2.       Click on the Copy Button.

3.      Select D11 and then right click on the mouse to display the shortcut menu..

4.      Choose paste from the shortcut menu. Excel uses the selected cell as the top left corner of the paste area and without warning pastes the copied cell over the existing contents.

5.       But we have a solution for this goof up. We have an undo command just for this type of event.

6.       Click on Undo button alternatively you can choose Undo Paste from the Edit Menu. Excel restores your worksheet to its pre-paste status. The copied information is still on the clipboard and you can paste it in an empty cell area.

5.4.3 Moving Entries

If you feel you have not placed the entries on the right spot, then you can move it from the original location to fresh locations.

1.       Select the range.

2.       Click on Cut button or select Cut from Edit menu. Dotted line circles the highlighted area.

3.       Click on some other location say G11.

4.       Click on Paste button or select Paste from Edit menu. You will see the contents have moved to cell G11.

5.4.4 Inserting And Deleting Cells

5.4.4.1 Inserting A Column

1.       Select the range say B3 to B9.

2.       Right click on mouse so that the shortcut menu appears. Click on Insert. As you click, Insert dialog box appears.

3.       Click on shift cells right if not already selected. Click on okay. Column B is now blank where you can now type new entries.

5.4.4.2 Inserting a Row

Inserting a row has almost identical steps to inserting a column. To perform this, you have to simply click the row header i.e. the box containing the row numbers. This will select the entire row. Thereafter, you can choose Insert from either the row’s shortcut menu of the edit menu.

5.4.4.3 Deleting a Column or a Row

The mechanism of deleting either a column or a row is same. You will now delete the row just added in row say number 7.

1.       Click on row header box numbered 7. You will see the entire row gets selected.

2.       Press right button on your mouse. Shortcut menu appears.

3.       In shortcut menu, click on Delete option. As a result row 7 gets deleted and your worksheet returns to pre-insert status.

5.4.5 Clearing Cells

Clearing cell is different from cutting or copying entries. What we are talking about is simply erasing the contents (i.e. the text, numbers and formulae) and leaving the cell in the worksheet. Deleting a cell erases it contents and removes the cell from the worksheet, thus changing the worksheet’s overall structure.

1.       Select the cell(s).

2.       The quickest way to clear the contents from the selected cell(s) is to press the delete key. To see what types of cell elements you can clear separately, choose the Clear command from Edit menu.

a)      To clear just contents, choose contents from the submenu.

b)      To clear just formats, choose Formats.

c)      To clear just cell notes, choose Notes.

d)      To clear everything (contents, formats and notes) from the cell, choose all.

5.4.6 Changing the Format

5.4.6.1 Changing Character Type

Spreadsheets can be pretty dry, so we need some tools to dress them up a little. We can use most of the tricks in our word processor to do the formatting of text. We can use: cold, italics, underlie, change the colour, align (left, Right, center), font size, font face etc.

We will try to format Sales.xls

1.       With the worksheet on select any cell, which contains some text.

2.       On the Formatting Toolbar, click the Font box and click on down-arrow. Select Verdana.

3.       On the Formatting Toolbar, click the arrow next to Font Size Box, click 14 and then click the Bold Button.

4.       Click anywhere to see the effects properly.

5.4.6.2 Changing Alignment

By default, Excel aligns text left and values right. You can bypass the default alignment by using alignment buttons on Formatting Toolbar.

1. Select the range A5 to A9. Click on each alignment button to see the effect

5.4.6.3 Changing Column Widths

You would certainly like to adjust the widths of all those columns where either the heading or contents of the cells are getting overlapped. In case of Sales.xls it happen in columns B and C. Let’s alter the widths so as to accommodate the cell contents in column B and heading in Column C.

1.       Place the mouse pointer on the dividing the line between the header of column B and C. The pointer shape change to a vertical bar with two opposing arrows.

2.       Hold down the left button and drag to the right until column B is wide enough to display its contents.

3.       Similarly column C needs to be expanded a bit so as to accommodate for the heading SALE DATE. TO do so place the pointer on dividing line between column C and D, press the mouse key and drag it a bit towards column D.

4.       Click on save button to save your changes.

The above method is short and easy. Alternatively you can alter the column width via Format menu.

1.       As the first step select the column which need alteration.

2.       Next click on the Format menu and choose Column and then Width.

3.       Excel displays the Column Width dialog box. This dialog box exhibits a width, which can be altered by typing a new value and pressing ENTER key. Remember 8.43 is the standard width of the column.

4.       After typing in the desired width, click on the save button to save your changes.

5.4.6.4 Adjusting row height

You can adjust the height of row the same way you adjust the width of the columns. To do so simply drag the bottom header border of the row up or down or choose Row and then Height from the Format menu to make the row shorter or taller.

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