Office 2007 Bible

Using Names to Work with Ranges

Dealing with cryptic cell and range addresses can sometimes be confusing. (This confusion becomes even more apparent when you deal with formulas, which I cover in Chapter 15.) Fortunately, Excel allows you to assign descriptive names to cells and ranges. For example, you can give a cell a name such as Interest_Rate, or you can name a range JulySales. Working with these names (rather than cell or range addresses) has several advantages:

• A meaningful range name (such as Total_Income) is much easier to remember than a cell address (such as AC21).

• Entering a name is less error-prone than entering a cell or range address.

• You can quickly move to areas of your worksheet either by using the Name box, located at the left side of the Formula bar (click the arrow to drop down a list of defined names) or by choosing Home Editing Find & Select Go To (or F5) and specifying the range name.

• Creating formulas is easier. You can paste a cell or range name into a formula by using Formula Autocomplete, a new feature in Excel 2007.

• Names make your formulas more understandable and easier to use. A formula such as =Income—Taxes is more intuitive than =D20—D40.

Creating range ...