Teach Yourself VISUALLY™ Excel® 2016
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Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943221
ISBN: 978-1-119-07473-1
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Wiley, the Wiley logo, Visual, the Visual logo, Teach Yourself VISUALLY, Read Less - Learn More and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
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Credits
Acquisitions Editor
Aaron Black
Project Editor
Lynn Northrup
Technical Editor
Donna Baker
Copy Editor
Lynn Northrup
Production Editor
Barath Kumar Rajasekaran
Manager, Content Development & Assembly
Mary Beth Wakefield
Vice President, Professional Technology Strategy
Barry Pruett
About the Author
Paul McFedries is a full-time technical writer. He has been authoring computer books since 1991 and has more than 85 books to his credit. Paul’s books have sold more than four million copies worldwide. These books include the Wiley titles Teach Yourself VISUALLY Windows 10, Windows 10 Simplified, The Facebook Guide for People Over 50, iPhone 6 Portable Genius, and iPad Portable Genius. Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website that tracks new words and phrases as they enter the language. Paul invites you to drop by his personal website at www.mcfedries.com or follow him on Twitter @wordspy.
Author’s Acknowledgments
It goes without saying that writers focus on text, and I certainly enjoyed focusing on the text that you will read in this book. However, this book is more than just the usual collection of words and phrases designed to educate and stimulate the mind. A quick thumb through the pages will show you that this book is also chock-full of treats for the eye, including copious screenshots, beautiful colors, and sharp fonts. Those sure make for a beautiful book, and that beauty comes from a lot of hard work by the production team at SPi Global. Of course, what you read in this book must also be accurate, logically presented, and free of errors. Ensuring all of this was an excellent group of editors that I got to work with directly, including project and copy editor Lynn Northrup and technical editor Donna Baker. Thanks to both of you for your exceptional competence and hard work. Thanks, as well, to Aaron Black for asking me to write this book.
How to Use This Book
Who This Book Is For
This book is for the reader who has never used this particular technology or software application. It is also for readers who want to expand their knowledge.
The Conventions in This Book
Steps
This book uses a step-by-step format to guide you easily through each task. Numbered steps are actions you must do; bulleted steps clarify a point, step, or optional feature; and indented steps give you the result.
Notes
Notes give additional information — special conditions that may occur during an operation, a situation that you want to avoid, or a cross reference to a related area of the book.
Icons and Buttons
Icons and buttons show you exactly what you need to click to perform a step.
Tips
Tips offer additional information, including warnings and shortcuts.
Bold
Bold type shows command names, options, and text or numbers you must type.
Italics
Italic type introduces and defines a new term.
CHAPTER 1
Working with Ranges
In Excel, a range is a collection of two or more cells that you work with as a group rather than separately. This enables you to fill the range with values, move or copy the range, sort the range data, and insert and delete ranges. You learn these and other range techniques in this chapter.
Select a Range
Fill a Range with the Same Data
Fill a Range with a Series of Values
Flash Fill a Range
Move or Copy a Range
Insert a Row or Column
Insert a Cell or Range
Delete Data from a Range
Delete a Range
Hide a Row or Column
Freeze Rows or Columns
Merge Two or More Cells
Transpose Rows and Columns
Select and Enter Data Using Touch Gestures
Select a Range
To work with a range in Excel, you must first select the cells that you want to include in the range. After you select the range, you can fill it with data, move it to another part of the worksheet, format the cells, and perform the other range-related tasks that you learn about in this chapter.
You can select a range as a rectangular group of cells, as a collection of individual cells, or as an entire row or column.
Select a Range
Select a Rectangular Range
Position the mouse () over the first cell you want to include in the range.
Click and drag the over the cells that you want to include in the range.
Excel selects the cells.
Release the mouse button.
Select a Range of Individual Cells
Click in the first cell that you want to include in the range.
Hold down and click in each of the other cells that you want to include in the range.
Each time you click in a cell, Excel adds it to the range.
Release .
Select an Entire Row
Position the mouse () over the header of the row you want to select ( changes to ).
Click the row header.
Excel selects the entire row.
To select multiple rows, click and drag across the row headers or hold down and click each row header.
Select an Entire Column
Position the mouse () over the header of the column you want to select ( changes to ).
Click the column header.
Excel selects the entire column.
To select multiple columns, click and drag across the column headers, or hold down and click each column header.
Fill a Range with the Same Data
If you need to fill a range with the same data, you can save time by getting Excel to fill the range for you. The AutoFill feature makes it easy to fill a vertical or horizontal range with the same value, but you can also fill any selected range. This method is much faster than manually entering the same data in each cell.
See the previous section, “Select a Range,” to learn how to select a range of cells.
Fill a Range with the Same Data
Fill a Vertical or Horizontal Range
In the first cell of the range you want to work with, enter the data you want to fill.
Position the mouse () over the bottom-right corner of the cell ( changes to ).
Click and drag down to fill a vertical range or across to fill a horizontal range.
Release the mouse button.
Excel fills the range with the initial cell value.
Fill a Selected Range
Select the range you want to fill.
Type the text, number, or other data.
Press +.
Excel fills the range with the value you typed.
Fill a Range with a Series of Values
If you need to fill a range with a series of values, you can save time by using the AutoFill feature to create the series for you. AutoFill can fill a series of numeric values such as 5, 10, 15, 20, and so on; a series of date values such as January 1, 2016, January 2, 2016, and so on; or a series of alphanumeric values such as Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and so on.
You can also create your own series with a custom step value, which determines the numeric difference between each item in the series.
Fill a Range with a Series of Values
AutoFill a Series of Numeric, Date, or Alphanumeric Values
Click in the first cell and type the first value in the series.
Click in an adjacent cell and type the second value in the series.
Select the two cells.
Position the mouse () over the bottom-right corner of the second cell ( changes to ).
Click and drag down to fill a vertical range or across to fill a horizontal range.
As you drag through each cell, Excel displays the series value that it will add to the cell.
Release the mouse button.
Excel fills the range with a series that continues the pattern of the initial two cell values.
Fill a Custom Series of Values
Click in the first cell and type the first value in the series.
Select the range you want to fill, including the initial value.
Click the Home tab.
Click Fill ().
Click Series.
The Series dialog box appears.
In the Type group, select the type of series you want to fill ( changes to ).
If you selected Date in step 6, select an option in the Date unit group ( changes to ).
In the Step value text box, type the value you want to use.
Click OK.
Excel fills the range with the series you created.
Flash Fill a Range
You can save time and effort by using the Flash Fill feature in Excel to automatically fill a range of data based on a sample pattern that you provide.
Although there are many ways to use Flash Fill, the two most common are flash filling a range with extracted data and flash filling a range with formatted data. For example, if you have a column of full names, you might want to create a new column that includes just the first names extracted from the original column. Similarly, if you have a column of phone numbers in the form 1234567890, you might want a new column that formats the numbers as (123) 456-7890.
Flash Fill a Range
Flash Fill a Range with Extracted Data
Make sure the column of original data has a heading.
Type a heading for the column of extracted data.
Type the first value you want in the new column.
Begin typing the second value.
Excel recognizes the pattern and displays suggestions for the rest of the column.
Press .
Excel flash fills the column with the extracted data.
Flash Fill a Range with Formatted Data
Make sure the column of original data has a heading.
Type a heading for the new column of formatted data.
Type the first value you want in the new column.
Begin typing the second value.
Excel recognizes the pattern and displays suggestions for the rest of the column.
Press .
Excel flash fills the column with the formatted data.
Move or Copy a Range
If your worksheet is not set up the way you want, you can restructure or reorganize the worksheet by moving an existing range to a different part of the sheet.
You can also make a copy of a range, which is a useful technique if you require a duplicate of the range elsewhere, or if you require a range that is similar to an existing range. In the latter case, after you copy the range, you can then edit the copied version of the data as needed.
Move or Copy a Range
Move a Range
Select the range you want to move.
Position the mouse () over any outside border of the range ( changes to ).
Click and drag the range to the new location ( changes to ).
Excel displays an outline of the range.
Excel displays the address of the new location.
Release the mouse button.
Excel moves the range to the new location.
Copy a Range
Select the range you want to copy.
Press and hold .
Position the mouse () over any outside border of the range ( changes to ).
Click and drag the range to the location where you want the copy to appear.
Excel displays an outline of the range.
Excel displays the address of the new location.
Release the mouse button.
Release .
Excel creates a copy of the range in the new location.
Insert a Row or Column
You can insert a row or column into your existing worksheet data to accommodate more information. The easiest way to add more information to a worksheet is to add it to the right or at the bottom of your existing data. However, you will often find that the new information you need to add fits naturally within the existing data. In such cases, you first need to insert a new row or column in your worksheet at the place where you want the new data to appear, and then add the new information in the blank row or column.
Insert a Row or Column
Insert a Row
Click any cell in the row below where you want to insert the new row.
Click the Home tab.
Click the Insert .
Click Insert Sheet Rows.
Excel inserts the new row.
The rows below the new row are shifted down.
Click the Insert Options smart tag ().
Select a formatting option for the new row ( changes to ).
Insert a Column
Click any cell in the row to the right of where you want to insert the new column.
Click the Home tab.
Click the Insert .
Click Insert Sheet Columns.
Excel inserts the new column.
The columns to the right of the new column are shifted to the right.
Click the Insert Options smart tag ().
Select a formatting option for the new column ( changes to ).
Insert a Cell or Range
If you need to add data to an existing range, you can insert a single cell or a range of cells within that range. When you insert a cell or range, Excel shifts the existing data to accommodate the new cells.
Although it is often easiest to create room for new data within a range by inserting an entire row or column, as explained in the previous section, “Insert a Row or Column,” this causes problems for some types of worksheet layouts. (See the first tip to learn more.) You can work around such problems by inserting just a cell or range.
Insert a Cell or Range
Select the cell or range where you want the inserted cell or range to appear.
Click the Home tab.
Click the Insert .
Click Insert Cells.
Note: You can also press ++.
The Insert dialog box appears.
Select the option that corresponds to how you want Excel to shift the existing cells to accommodate your new cells ( changes to ).
Note: In most cases, if you selected a horizontal range, you should click the Shift cells down option; if you selected a vertical range, you should click the Shift cells right option.
Click OK.
Excel inserts the cell or range.
The existing data is shifted down (in this case) or to the right.
Click the Insert Options smart tag ().
Select a formatting option for the new row ( changes to ).