3. Entering Data in Excel

This chapter shows you tricks for quickly entering data and fixing data that doesn’t look right.

Data entry is one the most important functions in Excel—and one of the most tedious, especially when the data is repetitive. This chapter will show you tricks for copying down data, fixing entered data, and helping your users enter data correctly by providing a predefined list of entries.

Dragging the Fill Handle to Extend a Series

The fill handle, shown in Figure 3.1, can speed up data entry by completing a series for you. Excel comes with several preconfigured series, such as months, days of week, and quarters. You can also add your own series, as described in the “Creating Your Own Series” section later in this chapter. ...

Get Using Microsoft® Excel® 2010 now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.