Microsoft Excel 365 Bible

CHAPTER 2Entering and Editing Worksheet Data

IN THIS CHAPTER

1. Understanding the types of data you can use
2. Entering text and values into your worksheets
3. Entering dates and times into your worksheets
4. Modifying and editing information
5. Using built-in and custom number formats
6. Using Excel on a tablet

This chapter describes what you need to know about entering and modifying data in your worksheets. As you'll see, Excel doesn't treat all data equally. Therefore, you need to learn about the various types of data you can use in an Excel worksheet.

Exploring Data Types

An Excel workbook file can hold any number of worksheets, and each worksheet is made up of more than 17 billion cells. A cell can hold any of four basic types of data.

• A numeric value
• Text
• A formula
• An error

A worksheet can also hold charts, diagrams, pictures, buttons, and other objects. These objects aren't contained in cells. Instead, they reside on the worksheet's drawing layer, which is an invisible layer on top of each worksheet.

Error values are discussed throughout Part II, “Working with Formulas and Functions.”

Numeric values

Numeric values represent a quantity of some type: sales amounts, number of employees, atomic weights, test scores, and so on. Values also can be dates (such as Feb 26, 2022) or times (such as 3:24 AM).

Excel can display values in many different formats. In the section ...