Office 2007 - Excel

Lesson 75 : Working with objects (3)

75/83 Lessons 

Selecting objects

To select an object, click on the object.
A selected object has handles on each edge of the object.
To select multiple objects, hold the Shift key on your keyboard while you click the next object.
To deselect a selected object, hold the Ctrl key while you click the object.


A second way to select objects is by clicking on the “Find and Select” button in the “Home” tab of the “Ribbon”, and choosing “Select objects” in the drop-down menu.
Your mouse pointer changes into a white arrow.
Click and drag your mouse over the objects you want to select.
If you want the normal display of the mouse, click once again on the “Select Objects” under “Find and Select” in the “Ribbon”.
This disables this option, and you can proceed with the regular work in your worksheet.

Customize the size of object

When an object is selected, handles appear around the object.
With these levers, we can adjust the dimensions of the object ie horizontal, vertical, diagonal.
Click and drag to the desired size.
If you wish to maintain the proportions of the object, hold the Shift key on the keyboard pressed while you click and drag a handle.
If you wish to preserve the proportions and centre of location of the object, hold the Shift key and the Ctrl key while you click and drag the handle.

Another way to modify the dimensions of an object is by making use of the “Width of field” and “Height of field” buttons.

Just click the upward or downward pointing arrows, or type a value in a textbox.

And a third way is to click on the downward pointing arrow, right next to the “Size”.
This opens the “Size and properties” dialog in which we have three tabs for setting the various dimensions and properties.

Moving An Object

To move an object, move the mouse pointer over the object.
This turns into a four-part arrow, click the object and drag it to a new position.
When you want to change your mouse pointer to a four-part arrow, such as text fields, and WordArt, first select the object, and move the mouse pointer over the edge of the object.

The mouse pointer will change to a four-pointer.

Click and drag to the desired position. Release the mouse button when the position is reached.

Object Transformation and rotation


Some of our objects have yellow blocks on the edge when they are selected.

By clicking and dragging with these, we can adjust the shape of the object.

The change in the shape depends on the object.

We can rotate the object by clicking and dragging the green circle, that you find at the top of the object.
When you place your mouse pointer over this, it changes it into a circular arrow.

You can also rotate the object by first selectingtg and then clicking on the “Rotate” button in the “Format” tab of the “Ribbon”. Choose one of the options in the drop-down menu.
These options also have live previews.

Copy Object

You can copy objects in different ways.
One way is by selecting it and clicking the Ctrl C on your keyboard.
Choose a position on your worksheet where you’d like to paste, and click Ctrl V on your keyboard.
A second way is by clicking the object and dragging with the Ctrl key pressed.
Release the mouse pointer before you release the Ctrl key.
If you want to copy multiple objects, select them all, and then click and drag with the Ctrl key pressed.

In order to copy an object to another worksheet or workbook, you should use the first method.
Obviously, you can always use the “Copy” and “Paste” buttons in the “Ribbon”.

Align Objects

To align objects, select them first, and then click the “Align”.
Choose one of the many options in the dropdown menu.

Organizing objects

We can change the order of objects by using the “Bring to Front” and “Send to Back” in the “Ribbon”.
Clicking on this brings one object in front or behind the other.
Clicking on the “Selection Pane” button opens a window where we change the order of objects by clicking on the upward or downward pointing arrow.

Deleting Objects

To delete an object select the object and click the Delete button on your keyboard.

Grouping

To group several objects, first select the objects.
Click the “Group” button in “Format” tab of the “Ribbon”.
This groups the objects, and will now treat them as one object.
To remove groups, click again on the “Group” button and choose “Ungroup”.

Shape Outline

By clicking on the downward pointing arrow next to the “Shape Outline” in the “Ribbon”, we can not only modify the color but the line thickness and line type too.
The “Shape Outline” option has a live preview.

The same is true for the “Shape fill” and “Shape Effects” options.

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