Select data or cells
Selections can be made on a spreadsheet in four ways: by rows, by columns,
by block or by activating the cell selection mode.
Selecting rows
To select a row left-mouse click on a row number or heading. To select a block
of rows click on the first row number, then hold the Shift key down and click on the
last row number in the block. Alternatively, hold the Shift key down and press the
up or down cursor keys, or press the page up or page down keys to make a block or extend
an existing selection. To select multiple rows that are not in a continuous
block hold the Ctrl key down and click on the row number to be included in the
selection. The example below shows 2 rows that have been selected.
Row selections can be removed by clicking on the row number a second time, by clicking in a
cell or column heading within the spreadsheet or by pressing the Esc key.
Selecting columns
To select a column left-mouse click on a column heading. To select a block
of columns click on the first column heading, then hold the Shift key down and click on the
last column heading in the block. Alternatively, hold the Shift key down and press the
up or down cursor keys, or press the page up or page down keys to make a block or extend
an existing selection. To select multiple columns that are not in a continuous
block hold the Ctrl key down and click on the column heading to be included in the
selection. By default, a single-click is used to select a column, however, you can change to
use a double-click to select column by changing the Select Columns with single
mouse click option within the spreadsheet options.
The example below shows 2 columns that have been selected.
Column selections can be removed by clicking on the column heading a second time, by clicking in a
cell or row number within the spreadsheet or by pressing the Esc key.
Selecting a range of cells
To select a single cell either click in a cell or use the cursor keys to navigate
to that cell.
To select a range of cells (or block) move the cursor to the corner of a spreadsheet
cell. When the cursor changes to a cross-hair hold down the left mouse button
and drag the cursor across cells to selection a block of cells. When all the
required cells are selected release the mouse to complete the selection. The
example below illustrates a selection of three rows and two columns starting
with the cell containing the value 5471.
An existing cell range selection can be extended by holding the Shift or Control key
down while selecting further cells. The new selection is then defined to be the
smallest rectangle enclosing both groups of selected cells. Cell selections can be
removed by clicking in a cell, column heading or row number within the spreadsheet
or by pressing the Esc key.
Using the cell selection mode
The cell selection mode provides an alternative method for selecting cells to
the standard way of selecting rows, columns or blocks. To select a cell to be
included in the cell selection click the cursor in the required cell and select
the Toggle Cell Selection item from the
Select submenu on the Spread menu.
Alternatively, a cell can be selected using the Ctrl+Alt+Q shortcut key.
The cell selection mode is automatically activated when the first cell is selected within
the cell selection. The mode is deactivated when all cells have their selection cleared.
When in cell selection mode the background colour of the cells indicating
a selection is by default displayed in light blue. However, this colour can be changed
using the Cell Selection option for spreadsheets in the
Options - Fonts and Colours tab. Further cells are included
or removed from the selection by placing the cursor in the required cell and selecting the
Toggle Cell Selection menu item. Data within the selected cells
are copied to and pasted from the clipboard in
the order that the cells were selected. The cell selection mode is deactivated by removing
the selection by selecting the Clear item from the
Select submenu on the Spread menu. Alternatively,
the selection can be cleared by pressing the Esc key.
The example below shows a cell selection of the cells A(1),B(1),A(3),B(3),A(5),B(5).
See Also
Select Menu
Select Spreadsheet Range menu