What is a cell range?

In the previous lesson, I had already talked about what a cell “Range” is so we can begin our research from there.

A “Range” of cells means all cells that are next to each other or non-adjacent with an emphasis on ‘all’, which are selected.

This collection of cells, as a whole is called a cell “Range”, “Range” for short.

We can now start with “Range”.

Once we have a “Range” name we can use this name in a “Formula”, a list, or whatever.

Select Range

I had already told you how to select cells in a “Worksheet”.
When you select multiple cells, we call it a “Range”.

For clarity sake, I will still go through it again here.

To select adjacent cells, click the first cell and drag the mouse pointer to the last cell. Or just click the first cell, hold the Shift key while clicking the last cell. It does not matter how you do it.
For non-adjacent cells, select the first cell or cells, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed and select the second cell or “Range” of cells. You can select any number of cells that you want.

The picture below on the left gives you a preview of selected cells that are adjacent to one another. On the right, you have a preview of selected cells that are non-adjacent. Both are called a “Range” in our “Excel spreadsheet”.

Name a Range

To name a “Range”, we first select the “Range”, then type an appropriate name in the “Name box” and click the Enter key on our keyboard.

How we use this in a “Formula”, I’ll tell you later….  Just remember how to name a “Range”.

Entering Data in a Range

When we first select a “Range”, and then start entering data, Excel will respect our “Range”. For example, we have entered the turnover for cell B2, and click the Enter key. The next cell that is selected is cell B3. This continues until we get to the bottom cell in our “Range”, in this case, cell B6. When we next click the Enter key, the selected cell will be C2 in our selected “Range”. This continues until data is entered in the last cell of the “Range”, cell E6. If you now click on the Enter key, you will returns to the first cell in the selected “Range” or cell B2.

Another tip: If you want all cells in the “Range” with the same value, hold the Ctrl key pressed on your keyboard while you press the Enter key.

 

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