Marissa Jones Only!!!!

Edit Cell Entries

Learning Outcomes

· Edit cell entries in the formula bar
· Edit cell entries in the cell
You can change, or 
edit
, the contents of an active cell at any time. To do so, double-click the cell, and then click in the formula bar or just start typing. Excel switches to Edit mode when you are making cell entries. Different pointers, shown in 
Table 1-3
, guide you through the editing process.  You noticed some errors in the worksheet and want to make corrections. The first error is in cell A5, which contains a misspelled name.

Table 1-3

Common Pointers in Excel

name

pointer

use to

visible over the

Normal

Select a cell or range; indicates Ready mode

Active worksheet

Fill handle

Copy cell contents to adjacent cells

Lower right corner of the active cell or range

I-beam

Edit cell contents in active cell or formula bar

Active cell in Edit mode or over the formula bar

Move

Change the location of the selected cell(s)

Perimeter of the active cell(s)

Copy

Create a duplicate of the selected cell(s)

Perimeter of the active cell(s) when [Ctrl] is pressed

Column resize

Change the width of a column

Border between column heading indicators

Steps

1. 1

Click cell A5, then click to the right of P in the formula bar

As soon as you click in the formula bar, a blinking vertical line called the 
insertion point
 appears on the formula bar at the location where new text will be inserted. See 
Figure 1-9
. The mouse pointer changes to  when you point anywhere in the formula bar.

Figure 1-9Worksheet in Edit Mode

2. 2

Press [Delete], then click the Enter button  on the formula bar

Clicking the Enter button accepts the edit, and the spelling of the employee’s first name is corrected. You can also press [Enter] or [Tab] to accept an edit. Pressing [Enter] to accept an edit moves the cell pointer down one cell, and pressing [Tab] to accept an edit moves the cell pointer one cell to the right.

Quick Tip

On some keyboards, you might need to press an [F-Lock] key to enable the function keys.
3. 3

Click cell B6, then press [F2]

Excel switches to Edit mode, and the insertion point blinks in the cell. Pressing [F2] activates the cell for editing directly in the cell instead of the formula bar. Whether you edit in the cell or the formula bar is simply a matter of preference; the results in the worksheet are the same.

Quick Tip

The Undo button allows you to reverse up to 100 previous actions, one at a time.
4. 4

Press [Backspace], type 8, then press [Enter]

The value in the cell changes from 35 to 38, and cell B7 becomes the active cell. Did you notice that the calculations in cells B15 and E15 also changed? That’s because those cells contain formulas that include cell B6 in their calculations. If you make a mistake when editing, you can click the Cancel button  on the formula bar before pressing [Enter] to confirm the cell entry. The Enter and Cancel buttons appear only when you’re in Edit mode. If you notice the mistake after you have confirmed the cell entry, click the Undo button  on the Quick Access toolbar.

Quick Tip

You can use the keyboard to select all cell contents by clicking to the right of the cell contents in the cell or formula bar, pressing and holding [Shift], then pressing [Home].
5. 5

Click cell A9, then double-click the word Juan in the formula bar

Double-clicking a word in a cell selects it. When you selected the word, the Mini toolbar automatically displayed.
6. 6

Type Javier, then press [Enter]

When text is selected, typing deletes it and replaces it with the new text.
7. 7

Double-click cell C12, press [Delete], type 4, then click 
Double-clicking a cell activates it for editing directly in the cell. Compare your screen to 
Figure 1-10
.

Figure 1-10Edited Worksheet

8. 8

Save your work

Recovering Unsaved Changes to a Workbook File

You can use Excel’s AutoRecover feature to automatically save (Autosave) your work as often as you want. This means that if you suddenly lose power or if Excel closes unexpectedly while you’re working, you can recover all or some of the changes you made since you saved it last. (Of course, this is no substitute for regularly saving your work: this is just added insurance.) To customize the AutoRecover settings, click the File tab, click Options, then click Save. AutoRecover lets you decide how often and into which location it should Autosave files. When you restart Excel after losing power, a Document Recovery pane opens and provides access to the saved and Autosaved versions of the files that were open when Excel closed. You can also click the File tab, click Open on the navigation bar, then click any file in the Recover Unsaved Workbooks list to open Autosaved workbooks.