Excel Lesson 5

Copying and pasting:

Start Excel from the START menu.

Use the new spreadsheet that comes up. Choose a cell and type your FIRST name only. Hit ENTER after you type your name.

Now, SINGLE-CLICK in the cell where you typed your name. You should see a dark outline around the cell. From the EDIT menu in Excel, choose COPY. The cell with your name in it will have a blinking broken line around it. Click in another cell, and go back to the EDIT menu and choose PASTE to paste a copy of your name in another cell.

The first cell that you typed your name in should still have the blinking broken line around it. This means that you can keep pasting copies. Click in a third location and do another EDIT/PASTE to paste another copy of your name.

To get rid of the blinking broken line, you can hit the ESCAPE key (top left hand corner of the keyboard).

Let’s try some other ways to copy. DOUBLE-CLICK in the first cell you typed your name in. You should get a blinking cursor. Now hold the mouse button down and drag the cursor across the whole cell to HIGHLIGHT the entire cell. The cell should be BLACK now. Go to the EDIT menu and choose COPY. SINGLE-CLICK in another cell, and choose EDIT/PASTE. This will paste a copy of the highlighted name in the cell.

Now, let’s try copying more than one cell at a time. Choose two cells that are next to each other. Type your first name in one, and your last name in another. SINGLE-CLICK one of the cells, hold the mouse button down, and drag the cursor across the other before letting go of the mouse button. (You may have to practice this!) You will see the two cells enclosed in a dark box. Go to the EDIT menu, and choose COPY to copy them. Click in another location, and choose EDIT/PASTE. Your first and last name will get copied to two new cells.

Let’s try one more different way to copy. SINGLE-CLICK in one of the cells that has your first name typed. Type CONTROL-C (hold the CONTROL key- it is one the bottom row and says Cntl- and hit the C key). This is a shortcut for EDIT/COPY. Now, find a cell to copy your name to, and SINGLE-CLICK in it. Use the shortcut for pasting- CONTROL-N.

One last thing to try: Can we copy numbers? Find an empty cell and type the number 1234 and hit ENTER. Use either EDIT/COPY or CONTROL-C to copy the number. Click in another cell and use EDIT/PASTE or CONTROL-N to paste. You should be able to copy the number.

Save this file to your Excel folder as EDITING.

Now, open NAMES4. DELETE all the formulas you have typed in the worksheet, leaving the original numbers.

In cell A4, type this formula to sum up the three numbers in the column: =A1+A2+A3. Hit ENTER to see the answer.

Now, here is a question: Will copying formulas work? Do you foresee any problems with copying the formula from cell A4 to cell B4? Try copying it, and tell what happens.

Now, copy EITHER A4 or B4 to C4.

In cell D1, type this formula to get the sum of the first row: =A1+B1+C1. Hit ENTER to see the answer. Now, copy the formula to D2 and D3 to get the sums of the other rows.

Inserting rows and columns:

The worksheet you just created is a little hard to read. It might be easier to read if there were some blank cells separating the sums. Let’s start by inserting a blank line in between the original numbers we started with and the sums in row 4. CLICK in one of the cells in row 4- any cell will be OKAY. Now, go to the INSERT menu and choose ROWS. This will insert a blank row.

Now, let’s insert a blank column in between the original numbers and the column of sums that are in the D column. Click in one of the cells in the D column and choose INSERT/COLUMNS to get a blank column inserted there.

SAVE the work you just did in the worksheet, and exit from Excel.