10 Minute Guide to Excel for Windows 95

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Copying, Moving, and Erasing Data

In this lesson, you will learn to organize your worksheet to meet your changing needs by copying, moving, and erasing data. When you copy or move data, a copy of that data is placed in a temporary storage area called the Clipboard.


Plain English: What Is the Clipboard? The Clipboard is an area of memory that is accessible to all Windows programs. The Clipboard is used by all Windows programs to copy or move data from place to place within a program, or between programs. The techniques that you learn here are the same ones used in all Windows programs.

Copying Data

1. Select the range or cell that you want to copy.

2. Pull down Edit menu, and copy, or press Clrl+C. The contents of the selected cell (s) are copied to the Clipboard.

3. Select the first cell in the area where you would like to place the copy. (To copy the data to another worksheet or workbook, change to that worksheet or workbook.)

4. Pull down the Edit menu, and choose Paste, or press Ctrl+V.


Panic Button: Watch Out! When copying or moving data, be careful when you indicate the range where the data should be pasted. Excel will paste the data over any existing data in the indicated range.

You can copy the same data to several places in the worksheet by repeating the Edit Paste command. Data copied to the Clipboard remains there until you copy or cut something else.


Timesaver Tip: Quick Copying with Drag & Drop The fastest way to copy is to use the Drag & Drop feature. Select the cells you want to copy, and then hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the cell selector border where you want the cells copied (see Figure 11.1). When you release the mouse button, the contents are copied to the new location. If you forget to hold down the Ctrl key, Excel moves the data rather than copying it.


Windows 95: Drag & Drop Between Worksheets Excel's new Drag Cells Between Worksheets feature lets you copy selected ranges between worksheets.


To copy data to another worksheet in the same workbook, first select the range. Then hold down the Ctrl key and the Alt key while dragging the range to the tab for the other worksheet. Continue to drag the range from the sheet tab up to the new location in the worksheet until the range appears where you want it. Dragging cells between worksheets is not available in Excel 5.

Figure 11.1
To copy data, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the cell selector border.

Moving Data

Moving data is similar to copying, except that the data is removed from its original place and moved to the new location.

To move data:

1. Select the range or cell that you want to move.

2. Pull down the Edit menu, and select Cut, or press Ctrl+X.

3. Select the first cell in the area where you would like to place the data. To move the data to another worksheet, change to that worksheet.

4. Pull down the Edit menu, and select Paste, or press Ctrl+V.

To move data quickly, use the Drag & Drop feature. Select the data to be moved, and then drag the cell selector border without holding down the Ctrl key.


Timesaver Tip: Shortcut Menu When cutting, copying, and pasting data, don't forget the shortcut menu. Simply select the cells you want to cut or copy, right-click on the selected cells, and choose the appropriate command from the shortcut menu that appears.

Windows 95: Drag Cells to Move Data between Worksheets Excel's new Drag Cells Between Worksheets feature lets you move selected ranges between worksheets. To move data to another worksheet in the same workbook, select the range and then hold down the Alt key while dragging the range to the tab for the other worksheet. Continue to drag the range from the sheet tab up to the new location in the worksheet until the range appears where you want it. Dragging cells between worksheets is not available in Excel 5.

Erasing Data

Although erasing data is fairly easy, you must decide exactly what you want to erase first. Here are your choices:

With the Clear command, you can remove the data from a cell, or just its formula, formatting, or attached notes. Here's what you do:

1. Select the range of cells you wish to clear.

2. Pull down the Edit menu, and choose Clear. The Clear submenu appears, as shown in Figure 11.2.

3. Select the desired clear option: All (clears formats, contents, and notes), Formats, Contents, or Notes.


Timesaver Tip: A Clean Slate To quickly clear the contents of cells, select the cells and press the Delete key.

Figure 11.2
Clearing the contents of the selected cells.


Timesaver Tip: Shortcut Menu When clearing cells, don't forget the shortcut menu. Select the cells you want to clear, right-click on one of them, and then choose Clear Contents.

In this lesson, you learned how to copy and move data. You also learned how to clear data from cells. In the next lesson, you will learn how to insert and delete cells, rows, and columns.


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