Datasheet

Excel 2010 Basics — Familiarizing Yourself with the Excel 2010 Window 3
Active cell and ranges
In Excel, one of the cells in a worksheet is always the active cell. The active cell
is the one that’s selected, and it’s displayed with a thicker border than the
others. Its contents appear in the formula bar. You can select a group, or range,
of cells by clicking and dragging the mouse pointer over them. You can then
issue a command that does something to the active cell or to the range.
The selected range is usually a group of contiguous cells, but it doesn’t have to
be. To select a noncontiguous group of cells, select the first cell or group of
cells, hold down the Ctrl key while you drag the mouse, and select the next cell
or group of cells.
Familiarizing Yourself with the Excel 2010 Window
Figure 1-1 shows a typical Excel 2010 window, with the important parts labeled.
This terminology rears its ugly head throughout the book, so you should review
the figure from time to time.
Moving, resizing, and closing windows
When Excel and workbook windows are in a restored state (between a maximized
and minimized state, that is) you can use the resize handles to adjust the
window size to your liking. Move the mouse pointer to the area of the resize
handle until the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow, and then drag with
the mouse.
You can move the window around the screen by dragging the title bars. See also
“Navigating with the Mouse and Keyboard,” later in this part.
When the active workbook window is maximized, it shares a single Close button
with the Excel window. After you click the shared Close button, Excel closes the
active workbook.
Exiting Excel
Use any one of the following methods to close the Excel application:
✓ Click the Close button on the Excel title bar if one or no workbook is open.
✓ Click the File tab and then click the Exit button.
✓ Press the Alt key, then press F, and then press X.
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