Reference: Columns, Rows, and Cells
These notes provide important reminders for working with columns, rows, and cells.
Action | Notes |
|---|---|
Specify a cell | As in other spreadsheet products, columns are labeled by letter from A to Z, then AA, AB, and so on. Rows are labeled by number starting from 1. Specify a cell by combining its column and its row, such as A1 or E23. |
Resize a column | To auto-resize a column based on the amount of text in the cell, double-click the column divider. To manually resize a column, drag the column divider, or select and type the desired width. You can type a number with up to 2 digits to the right of the decimal. |
Resize a row | To auto-resize a row based on the amount of text in the cell, double-click the row divider. To manually resize a row, drag the row divider. |
Select a range of cells | The active cell is shown with a blue border around it. You can select a range of cells by clicking a cell and then dragging to select the range; a blue border then surrounds the range. You can use this feature to place an array formula into the range, or to do an edit operation throughout the range. |
Apply a formula to a range of cells |
If a cell contains a formula with a relative cell address (for example, A1), it adjusts automatically for each cell it is dragged to. For example, if a formula in cell C1 is =A1+B2 and you drag-copy it to C2, the formula in C2 becomes =A2+B3. If you drag-copy 1 column to the right, the formula in D2 becomes =B2+C3. If you don't want Worksheets to automatically adjust the references in formulas, use absolute references. To make a cell reference absolute, add a dollar sign ($) in front of the column letter and row number in the formula. Examples: $Q$45, $T$67, $A$1:$A$10, etc. You can do the drag-copy operation on values as well as formulas. If a single cell is selected, its value is copied as is. However, if two consecutive cells are selected, drag-copy fills in cells with a value that is the sum of the second cell plus the difference between the two cells; this works for numbers and dates. You can use the ARRAYAREA formula as a nested formula parameter to pass in arrays (so that the formula updates dynamically as the underlying array changes size). You need to use two operations if you want to use drag-copy to fill a rectangle (range). Example: First fill a column starting from a single cell. Then select the column and use the drag-copy handle to fill the columns. |
Clear a cell or range of cells | Select the cells, rows, or columns that you want to clear, then select .
It's common to "clear" a cell by typing a space character followed by Enter, Tab, or an arrow key. This doesn't really clear the cell; it leaves a single space character in it, and can cause formulas not to work correctly. Example: Non-empty calls can cause spill errors when calculating formulas, or can cause unexpected results with COUNTBLANK or other issues. There isn't a visual indicator for cells with spaces in them, so when in doubt, manually clear the cells.. |
Copy a range of data into another workbook |
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Type into cells in double-byte languages | If you're using a double-byte language such as Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, do one of these steps before starting to type in a workbook cell:
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