Introduction

Below you will learn the basic keystrokes required to edit, navigate, and select cells in a worksheet.

You will also learn some useful SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Speak Keys to help you complete these tasks.

Reading time: 10 minutes approx.

Video

Editing cells in a worksheet

You can enter data into a cell in a worksheet by positioning the focus on the cell and then type your text. The text you type will overwrite any text currently in the cell. If you want to edit the existing text, press F2.

Navigating cells in a worksheet

A worksheet is a very large page containing tabular data. The columns are numbered using letters, starting at A, and going all the way across to XFD, and the rows run from 1 down to 1,048,576.

You will only use a fraction of the cells available to you in a worksheet.

Excel includes many ways to help you move around a worksheet.

Here are just some of the more popular key presses available to you:

• To move to the next cell, press the Arrow Keys.
• To move to the next cell to the right, press TAB.
• To move to the next cell to the left, press SHIFT + TAB.
• To move to the edge of a data region, press CONTROL + Arrow Keys.
• To move to the first cell in the row, press HOME.
• To move to the first cell, press CONTROL + HOME.
• To move to the last cell, press CONTROL + END.
• To scroll down, press PAGE DOWN.
• To scroll up, press PAGE UP.
• To scroll to the right, press ALT + PAGE DOWN.
• To scroll to the left, press ALT + PAGE UP.
• To move to the next worksheet, press CONTROL + PAGE DOWN.
• To move to the previous worksheet, press CONTROL + PAGE UP.
• To go to a cell using the "Go To" dialog box, press F5 to open the "Go To" dialog box, type the cell co-ordinates in the Reference box and press ENTER.

Speak cell content

As you navigate your worksheet using a Low, Medium, and High Verbosity Scheme, you will be told the cell content, then the cell co-ordinates, and then key properties relating to the cell, for example, if the cell contains a formula.

You may find the following SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader hotkeys useful when navigating a worksheet.

The following hotkeys can provide additional information when pressed multiple times.

Speak focus hotkey:

• Speaks the cell content on first press.
• Spells the cell content on second press.
• Phonetically spells the cell content on third press.
• Describes font attributes such as font name, size, and formatting such as bold, italic, and underlined on fourth press.

Speak row and column headings hotkey:

• Speaks the cell’s co-ordinates on first press.
• Spells the cell’s co-ordinates on second press.
• Speaks the row and column heading on third press. If undefined, speech will state row unknown and column unknown.
• Spells the row and column heading on fourth press. If undefined, speech will state row unknown and column unknown.

Tip: You can also press CAPS LOCK + H to speak the row and column heading and you can press LEFT SHIFT + CAPS LOCK + H To show the row and column heading information in a popup edit box. You will learn more about headings in a later section.

Selecting cells in a worksheet

Excel offers many ways to select cells. Some ways only use the keyboard, some only use the mouse, and some use a combination of both.

Tip: If you find the Excel Quick Analysis option taking focus away from the worksheet when you begin selecting cells then go to Excel's Options (ALT + F, T) and in the "General" category deselect the "Show Quick Analysis options on selection" check box.

Select a single range using the keyboard

Here are just some of the ways you can select a range of cells using the keyboard:

• To select cells, go to the top left cell and with SHIFT held down press the DOWN ARROW and RIGHT ARROW to extend the selection down and right.
• To select a data range, move the focus inside the range and press CONTROL + A.
• To select the entire worksheet, press CONTROL + A twice.
• To select a column, move to the first cell in the column and press CONTROL + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW. This will select cells to the last used cell in the column. If you press CONTROL + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW again, you will select the entire column.
• To select a row, move to the first cell in the row and press CONTROL + SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW. This will select cells to the last used cell in the row. If you press CONTROL + SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW again, you will select the entire row.
• To select an entire column, press CONTROL + SPACEBAR.
• To select an entire row, press SHIFT + SPACEBAR.
• To select all used cells in the worksheet, press CONTROL + HOME to go to the first cell in the worksheet and then press CONTROL + SHIFT + END.

Select nonadjacent ranges using the keyboard

You can select nonadjacent cells in a worksheet using keyboard commands.

To do this:

1. Go to the top left cell in the range.
2. Hold down SHIFT and press DOWN ARROW and RIGHT ARROW to select the cells in the first range.
3. Press SHIFT + F8.
4. Go to the top left cell in the second range.
5. Hold down SHIFT and press DOWN ARROW and RIGHT ARROW to select the cells in the second range.
6. If you wish to select more cells, press SHIFT + F8 and select the next range of cells.
7. Repeat the previous step until you have selected all the required cells in the worksheet.

Tip: Excel indicates it is ready to add further cells to the selection by showing the word "ADD" on the Excel Status bar. This appears after you press SHIFT + F8.

Select using the Go To command

To select cells using the "Go To" command:

1. Press CONTROL + G or F5. The "Go To" dialog box opens with the focus in the "Reference" box.
2. In the "Reference" box:
   
   • To select a single range, type the range you want to select, for example, type "C5:F9" to select all the cells between C5 and F9, and press ENTER. Excel closes the dialog box and selects the cells.
   • To select nonadjacent cells, type each range separated with a comma, for example, type "C5:F9, J5:P9" to select cells between C5 and F9 and J5 and P9, and press ENTER. Excel closes the dialog box and selects the cells.

Select cells using the mouse

Although this Guide is for users tackling tasks using the keyboard, here, for reference, is how you select cells using the mouse pointer.

• To select a single range of cells, click where you want the selection to begin and keeping the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON pressed down, move the pointer over the cells you want to select.
• To select a large range of cells, click where you want the selection to begin and keep SHIFT pressed down while you move to and click on the last cell.
• To select nonadjacent cells, select the first range and keep CONTROL pressed down while you select each additional range of cells.

Move focus within a selection using the keyboard

You can restrict your movement to only selected cells in the worksheet.

You can move to the next cell in the selected range by pressing TAB or ENTER. You can press SHIFT + TAB or SHIFT + ENTER to move to the previous cell in the selected range.

Depending on your Verbosity Scheme, when you use TAB, the speech will announce only the cell co-ordinates. When you use ENTER, both the cell co-ordinates and content is announced. Repeated presses of TAB or ENTER will cycle you through all the cells in the selection.

In this mode, you can edit a selected cell without undoing the selection.

Speak selection

SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader include two useful Speak keys that help you work with selections in a worksheet. These are the Speak selection hotkey and the Speak additional focus information hotkey.

The Speak selection hotkey speaks the data in the selected range. To do this, press NUMPAD 1 or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press LEFT SHIFT + CAPS LOCK + DOWN ARROW.

The Speak additional focus information hotkey speaks the range of the selection. Press LEFT SHIFT + NUMPAD 0 or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press LEFT CONTROL + CAPS LOCK + UP ARROW.

Defining cells

When working with cells and ranges of cells, you may find it difficult to remember the particular cell co-ordinates you want to select.

To address this issue, Excel includes the ability to give a name to a cell or range of cells. The naming of cells means you do not need to enter the co-ordinates when seeking to go to, select, or apply a formula to the cells.

To define a name:

1. Select the cell or range of cells you want to name.
2. From the "Formula" tab in the Ribbon, select "Define Name" (ALT + M, M, D). The "Define Name" dialog box opens.
3. Type a name for the cell selection. You must ensure the name contains no spaces. You can replace spaces with an underscore.
4. Select your preferences from the remaining options, but ensure you skip over the "Refers To" field. If you use the Arrow Keys when the focus is on the field, your cell values will change.
5. When done, select the "OK" button.

Now, you can select your cell or range of cells by opening the "Go To" dialog box and either typing your defined name or picking it from the available options. You can also use your defined name when creating a formula.

Tip: If your rows or columns have headings, you can use the heading as the defined name by pressing CONTROL + SHIFT + F3. Excel will automatically name the rows or columns based on the heading text.

Summary

Here, you learnt about the ways you can navigate a worksheet and the useful Speak keys you can use to review your cell position.

You also learnt how to select cells, and the hotkeys you can use to read and work within the selection.

Quiz

1. Speak row and column headings hotkey is a multikey command. Is this statement true?
2. To continue your selection of non-adjacent cells, you press SHIFT + F8. Is this statement true?
3. You can review the co-ordinates of a selected range by pressing the Speak selection hotkey. Is this statement true?

End of section

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But before you move on, here are the answers to the quiz questions:

1. True.
2. True.
3. False.