Selecting Cells

In order to make formatting or editing changes in a spreadsheet, it can become necessary to select cells. Highlighting cells involves clicking-and-dragging across the cells you want selected. However, users should take note of what their mouse pointer looks like before selecting cells.

	To select cells, the pointer should be a thick, white plus sign
	If the pointer is a northwest-facing arrow (standard pointer), that moves the contents of the cells
	If the pointer is a double-arrow split with a perpendicular line, that resizes the column or row it is pointed to (Column E in this sample)
	If the pointer is a thin, black plus sign, it is pointing to the AutoFill handle

Entire rows or columns can be selected by clicking on the row or column heading. You may also use [SHIFT] with the arrow keys to highlight cells. One other method is to click on a cell in the corner of what you want selected, then, while holding down the [SHIFT] key, click on the cell in the opposite corner of the area you want selected. Multiple ranges can be selected after the first by holding down the [CTRL] key while selecting these ranges.

<Click here> to see a video demonstration of selecting cells using the mouse, the Shift & Click method, and multiple ranges. (187K)