Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac® Bible

Chapter 13. Entering and Editing Data

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Entering data

• Moving around worksheets

• Importing data

• Selecting cells

• Manipulating rows and columns

• Creating lists

• Sorting and filtering data

• Finding and replacing data

Excel worksheets may seem simple at first glance. They are simply tables with rows and columns of numbers, text along with some formulas to calculate values. With this basic organizational structure, Excel can be used to do amazing number crunching feats. However, before you can make Excel jump through hoops with your data, you have to get it into your worksheet in the first place.

The most obvious way to enter data is to type it directly into Excel, and Excel makes it very easy to do this, giving you the ability to easily move around the workbook; enter, edit, and delete data; and efficiently copy and paste. You have automatic completion and automatic fill options for quickly populating cells, and Excel allows you to import data from a variety of data sources.

After data is entered, you can manipulate it to your heart's content, working with ranges or rows and columns by adding, deleting, and sorting them. You can split and freeze sections of a worksheet, and you can hide and show rows and columns, even entire worksheets. In this chapter, you learn how to do all these things and more. By the time you have completed it, you will be able to navigate Excel and confidently work with data.

Typing Data

You have a mountain of data, and you are ready to begin some serious number ...