How do you enter in excel

How do you press enter in Excel and stay in the same cell?

Stay in the same cell after pressing the Enter key with Shortcut Keys. In Excel, you can also use shortcut keys to solve this task. After entering the content, please press Ctrl + Enter keys together instead of just Enter key, and you can see the entered cell is still selected.

How do you enter in an Excel cell?

Click the location inside the cell where you want to break the line or insert a new line and press Alt+Enter.

Why can’t I hit Enter in Excel?

On the backstage screen, click “Options” in the list of items on the left. The “Excel Options” dialog box displays. Click “Advanced” in the list of items on the left. In the “Editing options” section, make sure the “After pressing Enter, move selection” check box is selected.

There are two Enter keys on a computer keyboard, one to the right of the main keyboard and the other on the bottom right corner of the numeric keypad. Keyboards and laptops without a numeric keypad only have one Enter key on the keyboard. Apple keyboards may have a Return key and an Enter key.

What is Ctrl Enter in Excel?

#2 – Ctrl+Enter to Fill All Selected Cells with the Same Data or Formula. When we are entering data or a formula in a cell, and have multiple cells selected, Ctrl+Enter will copy the data/formula to all of the selected cells.

How do you enter in the same column in Excel?

By default, when you press the “Enter” key on a spreadsheet, you will move the highlighted cell to the one below it. Use the Alt key to insert new lines into the same cell in a column.

How do I enable the Enter key in Excel?

To access this option, click File in the top left corner of your Excel document, and then click Options. The Excel Options dialog box will pop up and you will want to choose the Advanced tab. The top item listed allows you to change the behavior of the Enter key.

Where is Enter key on laptop?

The enter key is typically located to the right of the 3 and . keys on the lower right of the numeric keypad, while the return key is situated on the right edge of the main alphanumeric portion of the keyboard.

What can I use instead of Enter key?

You could replace it or use Ctrl+M instead of enter key. If the Enter key is not working, there is a high chance the Enter key is fine, but some other key is stuck, most likely ALT, CTRL, SHIFT, DEL, any key that would not show up doing something immediately.

When you press Ctrl Enter you insert a?

In a multi-line edit control on a dialog box, Ctrl + Enter inserts a carriage return into the edit control rather than executing the default button on the dialog box.

How do I fill a column in Excel?

Fill formulas into adjacent cells

1. Select the cell with the formula and the adjacent cells you want to fill.
2. Click Home > Fill, and choose either Down, Right, Up, or Left. Keyboard shortcut: You can also press Ctrl+D to fill the formula down in a column, or Ctrl+R to fill the formula to the right in a row.

Why my Enter button is not working?

The Enter key may not work if you are using the wrong keyboard driver or it’s out of date. To fix it, you can try reinstalling the keyboard driver with Device Manager. 1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key + R at the same time, type devmgmt. msc and click OK to open Device Manager.

What is Ctrl +F?

Updated: 12/31/2020 by Computer Hope. Alternatively known as Control+F and C-f, Ctrl+F is a keyboard shortcut most often used to open a find box to locate a specific character, word, or phrase in a document or web page.

What is the symbol for Enter key?

It normally has an arrow pointing down and left (⏎ or ↵), which is the symbol for carriage return. In contrast, the “Enter” key is commonly labelled with its name in plain text on generic PC keyboards, or with the symbol ⌤ (U+2324 up arrowhead between two horizontal bars) on many Apple Mac keyboards.

How do you press Enter without pressing enter?

You can use CTRL + J or CTRL + M as an alternative to Enter .

How do you go to next line without pressing Enter?

If you are searching for a way to move the cursor down a line without pressing the Enter key but still break the current line at that point, consider using a line break (Ctrl+Shift+L).

Where is the enter button on HP laptop?

The Enter (Return) key is basically the same on all laptops. The long arrow pointing to the left, on the right side of the keyboard is the return key.

Start a new line of text inside a cell in Excel

1. Double-click the cell in which you want to insert a line break.
2. Click the location inside the selected cell where you want to break the line.
3. Press Alt+Enter to insert the line break.

How do you add alt enter in Excel?

It’s easy to add a line break when you’re typing in an Excel worksheet. Just click where you want the line break, and press Alt + Enter.

How do I enable Alt enter in Excel?

Double-click on the cell in which you want to insert the line break (or press F2). This will get you into the edit mode in the cell. Place the cursor where you want the line break. Use the keyboard shortcut – ALT + ENTER (hold the ALT key and then press Enter).

What is Ctrl enter?

Ctrl+Enter in Word and other word processors In Microsoft Word and other word processors, pressing Ctrl + Enter adds a page break at the cursor’s current position. Full list of Microsoft Word shortcuts.

Why can’t Alt enter in Excel?

There are a couple of things that must be in effect in order for Alt+Enter to work properly. … In other words, you cannot just select a cell and press Alt+Enter. You need to do something to cause Excel to believe you are editing the cell; the easiest way is to press F2 or start typing something else into the cell.

Why can’t I enter in Excel?

The issue could be because of the following option might enabled in your excel. Please un-check “Transition formula evaluation” and “Transition formula entry” options under “File > Options > Advanced.

Can’t see what I’m typing in Excel?

Right click any offending cell choose Format | Custom in the “Type” box look for ;;; – it is these 3 semi colons that can make cell data invisible, anyway to get the sheet back to normal you could just press Ctrl+A then right click inside the highlighted area choose Format | General, all data will now be visible but …

How do I enable typing in Excel?

Make sure the character you choose is one you won’t be using in the cells. Click “OK” to accept the change and close the “Excel Options” dialog box. Now you can type a slash in any cell in your worksheet. Again, the character you entered as the “Microsoft Excel menu key” is not available to type in the cells.

What is type in Excel?

TYPE is most useful when you are using functions that can accept different types of data, such as ARGUMENT and INPUT. Use TYPE to find out what type of data is returned by a function or formula. … If value is a cell reference to a cell that contains a formula, TYPE returns the type of the formula’s resulting value.

How can I type in Excel?

Enter text or a number in a cell

1. On the worksheet, click a cell.
2. Type the numbers or text that you want to enter, and then press ENTER or TAB. To enter data on a new line within a cell, enter a line break by pressing ALT+ENTER.

Sometimes abbreviated as ScLk, ScrLk, or Slk, the Scroll Lock key is found on a computer keyboard, often located close to the pause key. The Scroll Lock key was initially intended to be used in conjunction with the arrow keys to scroll through the contents of a text box.

Remove scroll lock in Excel using on-screen keyboard

1. Click the Windows button and start typing “on-screen keyboard” in the search box. …
2. Click the On-Screen Keyboard app to run it.
3. The virtual keyboard will show up, and you click the ScrLk key to remove Scroll Lock.

For Windows 10

1. If your keyboard does not have a Scroll Lock key, on your computer, click Start > Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard.
2. Click the On Screen Keyboard button to turn it on.
3. When the on-screen keyboard appears on your screen, click the ScrLk button.

If you recently installed a patch, program or update, some of the files may be corrupt, which could cause the scrolling. Go to “Start,””Control Panel” and “Programs,” and select the program, patch or update that you last installed. Click on “Uninstall.” Restart the computer and reinstall the program.

Filters. To scroll by dragging the mouse pointer beyond the edge of the current window or screen. It is used to move around a virtual screen as well as to highlight text blocks and images that are larger than the current window. 0.

If you’re hooked on the scroll, here are some helpful tips to break the addiction.

1. Admit you have a problem. …
2. Turn off your notifications. …
3. Don’t sleep next to your phone. …
4. Put your phone in another room. …
5. In fact, leave your phone at home altogether. …
6. Turn on grayscale. …
7. Take the apps off your phone. …
8. Set boundaries.

Dopamine is a chemical in our brains that’s released after pleasure and reward-seeking behaviors—and it causes us to want them all over again. … “It turns out the dopamine system doesn’t have satiety built in.” That’s why you can scroll long past the point of feeling amused or entertained by what you’re seeing.

On a touch screen device, swipe your finger up or down to scroll the screen up or down. Swiping up scrolls down and swiping down scrolls up. If the screen has a horizontal scrollbar, swiping left scrolls right, and swiping right scrolls left.

Take a look:

1. Make “Me Time” — Even If It’s Just a Micromoment. “Before it’s time to tuck in, make a nighttime routine to signal to your body it’s time for sleep,” Webb suggests. …
2. Create a Soothing Environment Without Spending a Lot. …
3. Keep a Yoga Pose In Your Back Pocket. …
4. Work on Your Breath. …
5. Do the “Write” Thing.

Ways to Stop Scrolling

1. Set your ‘Social Media Time’ One of the best ways to lessen your phone screen time is to set a ‘social media time’ every day. …
2. Don’t sleep with your phone. When you keep your phone near your bed, it ignites the scrolling routine. …
3. Delete apps. …
4. Turn off notifications. …
5. Keep your phone out of sight.

Mindless scrolling results from a subconscious state of living that lacks purpose and priority. To be able to put an end to this, you need to make a conscious effort to be present in the moment and aware of your actions. Only when you do this will you be able to keep a tab of the time you’re spending on your phone.

Here are new things to try and learn instead of scrolling through social media:

• Make a new recipe. …
• Listen to music and/or make a music playlist.
• Listen to a podcast. …
• Write in a journal. …
• Create goals for yourself. …
• Plan a trip with friends or family. …
• Have fun with a coloring book. …
• Go to a museum.

Everyone must start somewhere and getting started with Excel 365 will be made easy with this massive article.  Grab your coffee and get ready to learn Excel in a practical way.

If you have every wondered how to use an Excel Spreadsheet and how you can learn to use Excel quickly then you have come to the right place. We are delighted to have you visit and I hope we can add some value while you are learning Excel.

For those of you new to The Excel Club, you should familiarise yourself with our Learn and Earn Activities.  Yes, that’s right, you can earn while you learn with us.  This article will offer you plenty of opportunities to practice what you will learn so if you want to earn while you learn then you need to be familiar with our program (don’t worry, this won’t cost you a cent)

What is Excel and Why should you learn it?

Excel is a software that allows you to create spreadsheets.  Spreadsheets, traditionally used by Accountants, allow you to lay out data in rows and columns.  Basic functions of the spreadsheet include keeping lists and records, so they are easily stored and sorted and organized. Excel is often used for carrying out quick and complex calculations, summarizing and reporting.  However, once you move beyond the basics of Excel, it is a powerful tool used that can be used for business intelligence and data analysis.

Having basics Excel skills are entry level requirements for many job roles, from Accounting to administration.  Everyone uses Excel.  Having advanced level excel skills have been proven to propel your career and it gives you an edge when looking for a new job or even that promotion.

Getting Started with Excel – Table of Content

So, what are you going to learn?  Well, we are going to answer the basics questions asked when getting started and learning how to use Excel.  

How do I open and save an Excel Workbook?

What are the ribbons for in Excel?

How do I use Excels Help Options (and Help on Steroids)?

How do I enter data to an Excel worksheet?

How do I enter formula and do calculations in Excel?

How do I navigate a workbook and select data?

How do I use and edit Excels quick access toolbar?

Whats next?

Before we get started and you make that coffee, why don’t you bookmark this article now in your browser for easy reference!  This is a long article with a lot in it (there is no point in skipping stuff when you are new to Excel) and you might not get through it all in the one sitting.  Once you have it bookmarked, we will be easy to find 😊

How do I open and save an Excel Workbook?

As there are numerous options for saving workbooks and there are templates available when opening workbooks.  Tasks such as Opening, closing, and saving workbooks are done daily and understanding your options is important.

To open a new Excel workbook, select file from the ribbon bar and then select New. A template window will be shown to you.  This contains the most popular templates, such as Blank Workbook which you will use most often.

In addition to the most used templates, there is also a search bar that will allow you to search for more templates.

To open a Blank workbook left click on the Blank workbook option found on the templates page. A new instance of Excel will open with a blank workbook.

To Save a workbook, select File from the ribbon bar and then select Save As.  Navigate to the folder you wish to save your file.  Then enter your file name.  The name of a file should be descriptive and saved in a place that you will find it.

Most often you will save your file as an Excel Workbook (.xlsx) however you can select other file types from the dropdown.

To open a workbook you have saved already, select File from the ribbon bar and then select Open.  You will be shown the most recent files you have been working on for quick access.  Left click on any of these files and they will open.

If your file is not in the recent files, you can navigate to the location and once you find the file, left click and it will open.

To save a file you have been working on previously, select File from the ribbon bar and then select Save.  This will save updates to the file and keep the same name and file location.

Learn and Earn Activity 1:

In the comments section below, answer the following question

What recommendations would you make for naming workbooks and why?

What are the ribbons?

Ribbons are the tabs found on the top of your Excel Workbook. They include Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View, and Help.  By clicking on any of the tabs, all the commands and options from that tab can be actioned.

The Ribbons are often shown in a condensed format. When you click on a tab, the ribbon will expand.  To hold the ribbon in expanded mode, click on the pin on the very left of the ribbon.

The home ribbon contains commands for

• The clipboard – Cut, Copy, Paste
• Formatting – Font, Alignment, number
• Styles – Conditional Formatting and styles
• Cell actions – insert, Delete, Format
• Editing actions – Autosum, Fill, clear, sort/filter and Find & select

The Insert Ribbon contains commands for inserting objects to a worksheet such as

• Tables and Pivot tables
• Pictures and shapes
• Charts
• Sparklines
• Filters, links, and comments
• Text, headers, and footers

The Page Layout ribbon contains commands for

• Setting a theme on the workbook
• Page setup options such as setting margins, print orientations and setting print areas
• Sheet options such as scale to fit and showing/printing gridlines and headings.
• Arrange command for aligning objects in a worksheet

The Formulas Ribbon contains the commands for formulas such as

• Function Library to quickly locate a function you wish to use
• Define Names commands such as Name manager.
• Formula auditing tools and
• Calculation options

The Data Ribbon contains commands for

• Getting and Transforming data
• Filter and Sort commands
• Data tools such as flash fill
• Outline feature such as grouping and ungrouping

The Review ribbon contains commands for

• Proofing such as spell check
• Smart lookups for insights on your data
• Comments and notes
• Worksheet protection

The View ribbon contains commands for

• Workbook views such as page break preview
• Show gridlines, formula bar and headings
• Zoom options
• Window options such as freeze panes

Learn and Earn Activity 2:

In the comments section below answer the following questions

On what ribbon will you find page setup commands?

1. Page Layout
2. Home
3. Insert
4. Formulas

On what ribbon will you find the clipboard commands?

1. Page Layout
2. Home
3. Insert
4. Formulas

How do I use Excels Help Options (and Help on Steroids)

Both new and experienced Excel users should make themselves familiar with Excels Help feature. No matter what you are doing, F1 will bring up help. When you bring up help you will be met with a predefined list of common help topics.

Clicking on any of the help topics will expand it to a list of articles and videos where you can get further help. These videos can be very useful and are often worth watching as supplementary learning. The search bar can be used to type in what it is that you need help with.

Excel natural language search is like help on steroids. Not only can you get help, but you can also quickly access commands and use smart lookup.  To use natural language search just type into the box whatever it is that you are looking for.

If you are working with a business subscription, typing a colleague’s name into the natural language search will bring up the contact details for that colleague.  If you type in the name of a file and are using Onedrive or Sharepoint, you can insert them into your current file or open them separately.

Typing in a command, such as Save, will search through excel and if there is a command it will bring up the best match and the arrow keys can be used so select the command you want to perform.

Selecting Help will bring up the help feature that we have already been familiar with.

Selecting Smart Lookup will use Bing, Microsoft search engine, to search the internet for more information and explanations.

In this video, we will take a look at both Help and Excels Natural Language Search so that you are familiar with it before we move on teaching you how to use Excel.

Learn and Earn Activity 3:

In the comments section below tell me which you would prefer to use and why.  Excels F1 help feature or Excels natural language search?

How do I enter data?

Data can be entered into Excel in different formats, such as numbers, text and even date and time. You would often see labels in excel, which are most often text which describes the row or column of data.

Before we can enter data, we need to first understand the layout of a worksheet

A cell is any of the boxes you can see on the worksheet.  Every cell has an address which is made up of the column letter and row number.

1 – Formula bar.  This is used for entering formulas into a cell or range of cells

2 – Cells going across the sheet make up rows.  Each row is numbered 1,2…….

3 – cells going down a sheet make up columns.  This are lettered A, B, C….

4- An active cell is any cell you click on. Selected cells will be shown with a green box

5 – cell address. This will show the cell address for the active cell.  The cell address is the column letter and row number. The active cell is the currently selected cell.

How to enter data into a cell

To enter data into a cell, first, select the cell by clicking on it with the mouse or using the keypad arrows to move to the cell you want.  For example, we wish to enter the word Name to Cell A1.  First click on cell A1, then using the keyboard enter the text “Name”.  To accept the text in the cell press, enter.  This will move your active cell down to the next cell below.

We can also enter text data directly into the formulas bar. To do this, again select the cell in which you want the data and then in the formula bar enter the text you want.

To edit the contents of a cell, click or navigate to the cell you wish to edit.  Press F2 to turn the cell to edit mode and make any adjustments you need.  Once you have made your adjustments, press Enter to accept.  You can also edit in the formula bar by selecting the cell and making the edits by selecting the formula bar.

To delete the contents of a cell or cells, select the cells and press delete on your keyboard.

How do I enter a calculation or formula?

The beauty of Excel is its ability to carry out calculations in a fraction of a second.  Excel is equipped with many built-in functions from basic arithmetic such as sum and average to more complex engineering and financial functions.

To perform a mathematical operation such as add, subtract, divide or multiply, first select in the cell in which you want to perform the calculation.

All calculations are carried out as a formula.  All formulas being with typing = at the start of the cell.

To add two numbers, select the cell and type =1 + 2.  When you press enter excel will perform the calculation and return the result.  We can do this with any other mathematical operations such as +, -, /, *

You can also carry out calculations on numerical data contains in cells.  If we wish to add the contents of multiple cells, we would use the SUM function.

Functions are built-in formulas within excel, such as SUM, AVERAGE, and COUNT.

Functions start with a = and then the functions name followed by a bracket.  A screen tip will be displayed showing you tips of what to enter for the function to work.

The SUM function tips look for numbers to add.  Click on the cell that contains the first number and you will see this cell reference being entered to the formula. Next, enter a comma, you will see the screen tip jump to the second number, again select the cell.  Continue this for each cell you wish to include in your calculation and end with a closing bracket.  All formulas end with a closing bracket.  Press Enter to accept your formula and the value shown will be the result of the calculation.

Learn and Earn Activity 4

Open a new instance of Excel and carry out the following activities

• In cell A1 type name.  In cell B1 type sales
• In cell A2 type Paula.  In cell B2 type 20
• In cell A3 type Ava.  In cell B3 type 25
• In cell A4 type List.  In cell B4 type 22.
• In cell B5 enter a formula that will add all the sales value together.

In the comments section below answer the following questions

1. What formula did you use to add all the sales values together?
2. What value did you get for the total sales?

How do I navigate a workbook and select data?

We saw when entering data into a cell that pressing enter to accept the contents you entered will move the active cell down one on the worksheet.  There are however other navigation options available that will ensure you become more efficient when working with Excel

Below is a table of 16 keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to quickly move around and work with select data.  This table is available to download so you have it for handy reference.  You should practice these shortcuts as often as possible

It is important to point out there is a difference between a workbook and a worksheet. A worksheet is the pages in a workbook. You can see the pages as tabs on the bottom of the workbook. 

To add a new worksheet to a workbook, click on the + button on the worksheet tabs section.

To rename a worksheet, right click on the tab and select Rename. The cursor will become active in the tab.  Once you enter the sheet name, press Enter to accept.

To delete a worksheet, right click on the tab and select delete.

The quick access toolbar allows you to quickly access commands that you use on a regular basis.  The toolbar is found on top of the ribbons and it is easy to configure to the commands you use the most

To quickly set up the quick access toolbar customized to suit your needs click on the down arrow to open the Customize quick access toolbar. This will show a list of popular command.  By clicking on any of these, you will add them to your quick access toolbar.

For commands that are not included in this list, select More commands

A new box will open with two tables.  The table on the left contains the commands available. The table on the right will show what has been added to the quick access toolbar.  Select a command from the list on the left by clicking on it, press add, and the quick access toolbar icons should now contain this command.  Press ok to accept and the quick access toolbar will update.

To use commands in the quick access toolbar, hover the mouse over the icon and left click.

Learn and Earn Activity 6:

In the comments section below answer the following questions

When writing a formula or mathematical operation such as +,-,*,/ you must start with

1. SUM
2. The first number to be included in the calculation
3. = 

“The  __________ are identified as tabs which are found on the bottom of a workbook

1. Formulas
2. Worksheets
3. Ribbons
4. Quick access tool bar

When you enter data, be it text or numbers, and press enter, the data is accepted into the cell.  What happens to the active cell?

1. When you press enter the active cell moves down the current column by one row
2. When you press enter the active cell moves across the current row by one column
3. When you press enter the current cell remain the active cell

What’s next?

Congratulations on reaching the end of this article, you did amazingly well to get this far.  Believe it or not, this article makes up the bones of module 1 in our FREE Practical Beginner Excel 365 Course.  The next step is to sign up for this free course and continue your learning

In addition to the course, each week we post a new Excel, PowerBI or DAX article with a Learn and Earn Activity.  Make sure you are on our email list so you don’t miss out on any of these and you can earn while you learn Excel.  You can then use these tokens against the price of our premium training, or you can cash them in or use them against other products and services that now accept STEEM.

Learn and Earn Activity 7

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When you enter any sort of data into Excel, you’ll enter it into a spreadsheet. Of course, starting to enter information is as simple as clicking on a cell in the spreadsheet and typing, but there are some things that are helpful to know – and that you can do – before you ever type that first letter or number.

The first thing you want to do before you type anything is to spend a little time planning the spreadsheet. Beginning to type in Excel is perhaps not as easy as it might be in, let’s say, a word processing program because you’re going to enter all information into rows and columns. A little more organization is required to save you the time of having to create and then recreate the spreadsheet to get it as you want it.

To organize your spreadsheet, you’ll need to determine:

• What is the point of the spreadsheet?
• What information do you need to include?
• What headings are you going to need to explain the information in the spreadsheet?
• Do you want to use columns, rows, or both?

Take a little time to plan out your spreadsheet, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and headaches down the road.

The Three Types of Data

There are three types of data in Excel: text, value, or formula.   This is the type of data you enter into cells. If Excel detects that the entry is a formula, it will calculate the formula and display the result in the cell. You can see the formula in the Formula Bar when the cell is active.

If it detects that it’s not a formula, Excel then decides if it’s text or value. Text entries are aligned to the left side of the cell. Values are aligned to the right. 

This is all important to know so you can make sure you are entering things correctly, and Excel is recognizing your entries as the correct data type.

About Text Data

Text entries are simply bits of data that Excel can’t classify as a formula or value. Most text entries are labels.   Labels are the names of columns and rows.

You can always tell if Excel is classifying your entry as text because text will be aligned to the left side of the cell.

About Values

Values are the building blocks of all formulas that you enter. Values are numbers that represent quantities, and they are numbers that represent dates. 

Values are aligned to the right side of the cell. 

If Excel cannot solve the values you add as a formula, it will assume they are values.

Adding Values

Let’s take a look at how to enter values into an Excel worksheet.

Negative values. If you need to add a negative value, enter a minus (-) sign before the value. You can also put in parentheses if you want. Excel will convert it to negative if you choose to use parentheses.

Dollar amounts. If you’re entering a value that’s a dollar amount, you can add dollar signs and commas just like you would if you were writing it by hand.

Decimal points. If you need to add a decimal point, use the period key on your keyboard.

Fractions. If you need to convert a fraction to a decimal, Excel can do that for you, so there’s no need to stress over it yourself. Simply type the fraction in using the slash key on the keyboard. Just make sure you leave a space after any whole numbers before typing in the fraction, as shown below.

Hit Enter on your keyboard. 

As you can see below, Excel classified the number as a value and aligned it to the left. However, it’s still a fraction. 

Click on the cell that contains the fraction, then take look at the Formula Bar.

Excel converted it to a decimal. 

Note: If you’re entering simple fractions such as 5/8 where a whole number isn’t present, you must enter a zero as the whole number. If you don’t, Excel thinks you’re entering a date.

About Formulas

In Excel, a formula is simply an equation that performs a calculation. It can be as simple as 5 + 2, or as complex as. You can perform calculations within a single cell or based on the values in two different cells, a range of cells, or even a range of cells across several different worksheets. A range of cells is defined as a block or group of cells that have been selected. If all this is confusing right now, don’t worry. It will become crystal clear very soon. 

For now, remember that whenever you enter a formula into Excel, the formula must start with an equals sign: =. This might seem strange at first since ordinarily an equals sign comes at the end of an equation, but this lets Excel know right away that you want to perform a calculation. Again, whenever you want to add a formula in Excel, you always start with the equal sign, as shown below:

Once you’ve entered it into the cell, either hit Enter or the arrow key to go to another cell.

Excel performs the calculation and displays the answer in the cell.

Now whenever you click on the cell, the formula will appear in the Formula Bar.

Fixing Decimal Points

If you need to enter a bunch of numbers that use the exact same number of decimal places, you can use Excel’s Fixed Decimal setting so that Excel automatically adds the decimal point for you.

To do this, click the File tab to go to the Backstage area, then click Options.

Go to the column on the left, and click Advanced.

Go to Automatically Insert a Decimal Point and put a check in the box.

By default, it’s set to two places from the left. You can change this number if needed.

Entering Dates

Dates and times are values in a worksheet, not text. They are values because they can be used for formulations, such as how many days an employee worked last month. In saying that, Excel determines that you’re entering a date or time by the way you type it in.  

These are the ways you can type a time into Excel so that it recognizes it as a value:

• 5 AM or 5 PM

• 5 A or 5 P

• 5:46 AM or 5:46 PM

• 5:46:12 AM or 5:46:12 PM

• 17:46

• 17:46:12

Below are the date formats that Excel recognizes as values:

• May 1, 2016 or May 1, 13. It will appear in Excel as 1-May-13

• 5/1/13 or 5-1-13. It will appear as 5/1/2016

• 1-May-13 or 1/May/13 or 1May13. It will appear as 1-May-2016.

•  May-1 or May/1 or May1 will appear as 1-May.

Note: You only need to enter the last two digits of the year for this century if the last two digits are 00-29. Starting with 2030, you need to enter all four digits.

Entering Data into a Worksheet

Now that we’ve covered some of the very basics of data, it’s time to start actually entering information into Excel.   Entering information is as easy as clicking on a cell. When you click on a cell, the cell will be highlighted with a border as shown below.

Once it’s highlighted with border, you can type inside of it. When you’re finished entering information into one cell, you can click the mouse in another cell to type more information.  

However, moving and clicking your mouse each time you want to change cells becomes time consuming. Most people who use Excel want to move a little faster than that and save as much time as possible. That said, you can also use the following keys to navigate the spreadsheet as you enter information.

• Enter. Enters the data into the current cell, then moves the cursor to the next cell in the same column. In other words, using the example above, if we pressed ‘Enter’ it would move the cursor down to cell A2. We could then type in A2.

• Tab. Tab enters the data into the current cell, then moves on cell over in the same row. In this example, it would move to B1. 

• Arrows. You can navigate through columns or rows in the spreadsheet using the arrows. 

Entering Labels for Columns and Rows

Labels are used for things such as titles, headings, names, and for identifying columns that contain data. These are text values. 

Below we’ve created the beginning of a spreadsheet that will be used to calculate the sales for each employee by the month. 

As you can see, Excel recognized our entries as text values. Text values are always aligned to the left side of the cell.

Entering Repeated Labels

Now, let’s say we want to add the first name, William Barrett, twice in our spreadsheet. 

A method that you can use to quickly enter repeated labels is to use the Pick List feature. To use the Pick List feature, right click on the cell where you want the label to appear. Select ‘Pick from Drop-down List.’

When you click on Pick from Drop-down List, a dropdown menu will appear:

Select the label you want to appear by clicking on it.

For our example, we would scroll down until we found William Barrett, then we’d click on the name. The text label William Barrett is now entered in the cell.

By default, whenever you’re in a cell in Excel and hit the Enter/Return key, the cursor would go down one cell.

In most cases, this is what you want (especially during data entry when you want to move to the next cell below)

But I’ve also come across many scenarios where users do not want to move the cursor to the next cell. They want the cursor to remain on the same cell when they hit the Enter key.

Now there are two broad scenarios where this is required:

1. You hit the Enter key and the cursor stays on the same cell
2. you want to hit the enter key and want to move to the next line in the same cell so that you can have multiple lines of data in a cell in Excel

In this tutorial, I will show you how to do both of these things, so that when you hit the enter key the cursor remains on the same cell.

Keyboard Shortcut to Keep the Same Cell Active When you Hit the Enter/Return Key

If all you want is to cursor to remain on the same cell when you hit the enter key, the easiest way would be to use the below keyboard shortcut

ALT + ENTER

To use this keyboard shortcut, hold the ALT key and then press the Enter key.

This keyboard shortcut works just like hitting the Enter key, while keeping the cursor in the active cell.

Bonus Shortcut: If you use SHIFT + ENTER, the cursor would move one cell above.

VBA Code to Change Cursor Movement After the Enter Key

While the keyboard shortcut is great, if you want the change the default movement of the cursor when the enter key is hit, you can do that with a very simple one-line VBA code.

Once the VBA code is executed, whenever you hit the Enter key, the cursor would stay on the same cell and would not move anywhere

Make the Change In All Excel Files (the Entire Excel Application)

Below is the VBA macro code to do this:

Application.MoveAfterReturn = FALSE

Below are the steps to use this VBA macro code:

1. Open any Excel workbook (or activate any existing open workbook)
2. Click the Developer tab (check this if you can’t see the developer tab in the ribbon)
3. Click on Visual Basic (this opens the VB editor)

1. Click the View option in the menu
2. Click on Immediate Window

1. Copy the above code and paste it into the ‘Immediate Window’

1. Place the cursor at the end of the code line and hit Enter (this executes that line of code)
2. Close the VB Editor

The above steps would run this line of code.

Now when you working on a worksheet in Excel, and you hit Enter key, it would keep you in the same cell and not move you to the cell below.

In the above code, we have changed the MoveAfterReturn property and set it to FALSE.

This property is TRUE by default, which means that whenever you hit the Enter key in the Excel application, it moves to the cell below.

By setting this property to FALSE, we had asked Excel, not to move the cursor when we hit Enter.

One very important thing to know here is that this change will be applied to the entire Excel application. so even if you close the current workbook, and open a new or any other existing workbook, this change would remain in place (unless you revert it by setting the MoveAfterReturn property to TRUE)

To revert this change, so that the cursor starts moving to the cell below when you hit the enter key, you need to follow the same steps shown above and use the below VBA code instead:

Application.MoveAfterReturn = TRUE

Make the Change In Specific Excel Files

If you want the cursor to remain on the same cell when you hit enter in only some specific workbooks, and not the entire Excel application, you can do that as well using a simple VBA code.

To do this, you have to ensure that MoveAfterReturn is set to FALSE in only that specific workbook, and it’s TRUE in all the other workbooks.

And there is a very smart way to do this in Excel.

First, let me give you the VBA code that will do this, and then I will explain where to put this code and how to use this.

'This code is developed by Scott from https://SpreadsheetPlanet.com
Private Sub Workbook_Activate()
Application.MoveAfterReturn = False
End Sub

Private Sub Workbook_Deactivate()
Application.MoveAfterReturn = True
End Sub

Below are the steps to place this code in the workbook where you want the cursor to remain on the active cell when you hit the Enter key:

1. Open the Excel workbook where you want to apply this
2. Click the Developer tab
3. Click on Visual Basic (this opens the VB editor)

1. In the ‘Project Explorer’ pane, double-click on the ThisWorkbook object (If you don’t see the Project Explorer, click on View and then click on Project Explorer)

1. Copy and Paste the above VBA code in the ThisWorkbook code window

1. Save the Workbook as a .xlsm (macro-enabled file). The option comes when you save the file (in the Save as Type drop-down in the Save as dialog box)

Once you have added this code in one specific workbook, the MoveAfterReturn property will be set to FALSE only in this specific workbook and would remain TRUE in all the other workbooks.

So when you open/activate this specific workbook and hit the Enter/Return key when working on any cell in the worksheet, the cursor would stay on the same cell.

But for any other workbook, the cursor would move to the cell below.

Let me also quickly explain what happens with this code and how it works.

The Private Sub Workbook_Activate() part of the code is only run when you activate that specific workbook. so as soon as you open or activate that workbook, the MoveAfterReturn property is set to FALSE.

And as soon as you deactivate this workbook (which could be by moving to any other workbook or application), the Private Sub Workbook_Deactivate() part of the code is executed, which sets the MoveAfterReturn property to TRUE.

This way, we are only changing the MoveAfterReturn property in that specific workbook, and we revert it back to its default setting (which is true) as soon as this specific workbook is deactivated.

Entering New Line In The Same Cell

Another common scenario where you may want to remain on the same cell when you hit enter is when you want to have multiple lines in the same cell.

By default, as soon as you hit the Enter key, whatever you have entered in the cell remains and the cursor moves to the next cell.

But what if you want to have multiple lines in the same cell (as shown below).

You can achieve this easily by using the below keyboard shortcut

ALT + ENTER

To use this keyboard shortcut, enter any text that you want to have as the first line in the cell, place the cursor at the end of the line, and then use the above keyboard shortcut by holding the alt key and then pressing the enter key.

ALT + ENTER works as a carriage return where it starts a new line in the same cell.

So these are some of the methods that you can use to stay in the same cell when you hit the Enter or Return key.

If you only need to do this occasionally, you can use the keyboard shortcut CONTROL + ENTER, but in case you need this functionality to be more permanent, you can use the VBA code method.

And finally, if you want to start a new line in the same cell in Excel, you can use the keyboard shortcut ALT + ENTER

I hope you found this Excel tutorial helpful.

Other Excel guides that may also be useful:

• How to Enter Sequential Numbers in Excel? 4 Easy Ways!
• How to Add Bullet Points in Excel (7 Easy Ways)
• How to Unmerge All Cells in Excel? 3 Simple Ways
• Highlight Cell If Value Exists in Another Column in Excel
• How to Remove Panes in Excel Worksheet (Shortcut)
• Edit Cell in Excel (Keyboard Shortcut)