How Do I Enter Data into a Cell?

Entering Data into a Cell

You can enter numbers, text, dates, times or formula in a cell, in several cells at once, or on more than one worksheet. To work effectively in Excel, you must be able to move around the workbook. The various ways to move around a worksheet has been treated above in this section.

To enter data into a cell, simply place the cell pointer on the desired cell and type the data. Microsoft Excel has various ways of assisting users to enter data into worksheet; some of such ways are treated in the succeeding posts.

How to Automatically Repeat Items Already Entered in the Column.

If the first few characters that you type in a cell match an existing entry in that column, Excel automatically enters the remaining characters for you. However, only those entries that contain text or a combination of text and numbers that Excel automatically completes. Entries that contain only numbers, dates, or times are not automatically completed.

Do one of the following:

1. To accept a proposed entry, press ENTER key. The completed entry exactly matches the pattern of uppercase and lowercase letters of the existing entry.
2. To replace the automatically entered characters, continue typing.
3. To delete the automatically entered characters, press BACKSPACE.

If you don't want entries that you type to be completed automatically, you can turn off this option by taking the following steps:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button File menu (depending on the Office version you have), and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Advanced, and then under Editing options, clear or select the Enable AutoComplete for cell values check box to turn automatic completion of cell values on or off.

NOTE: Microsoft Excel bases the list of potential AutoComplete entries on the column that contains the active cell. Entries that are repeated within a row are not automatically completed.