Datasheet

18
Chapter 1
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Navigating in Excel and Understanding the Interface
If numbers are too wide for a column, Excel will replace the digits with # signs if the cell
to the right of it has something in it. However, if the cell to the right is empty, Excel will cut
off the digits that exceed the width of the column, rounding the number off if necessary.
It is important for you to know that what you see in a cell is not always what Excel sees in
that cell. For example, when Excel rounds off a number to fit it in a column, Excel still sees
the full number. To always know exactly what Excel is seeing in a cell, look at what is in the
Formula bar at the top of the screen. That is the only place you will always see exactly what
Excel sees. For example, 1.5 rounded off to fit in a narrow column will show as 2 in the cell,
but Excel will still show it as 1.5 in the Formula bar; therefore, when you use a formula to add
two cells together that seem to have 2 in them, you will get a result of 3, because Excel is actu-
ally adding 1.5 and 1.5. (I’ll cover more on using formulas in Chapter 5, “Formulas and Func-
tions in Excel.”)
The following exercises will teach you how to adjust column widths, as well as row heights,
using the mouse or the menu commands. First, in Exercise 1.7, let’s try it with the mouse.
EXERCISE 1.7
Resizing Rows and Columns Using the Mouse
1. Go to Sheet1 in Exercise 1-1.xls.
2. Move your mouse pointer up to the column headers section—the gray area at the top of
the worksheet that displays the column letters A, B, C, etc.
3. Move your mouse pointer over the gridline between the letters D and E until you see the
resizing pointer, as shown here:
4. With this pointer you can:
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Hold down the left mouse button and drag the right edge of the column until the col-
umn is wide enough.
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Double-click to automatically fit the column to the widest entry in it.
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