Thursday, July 8, 2010

Rock and Roll with Your Ctrl Key!

This week discussion is on Three Cool Things you can do with your Ctrl Key:

#1 - You can make Noncontiguous Selections of cells. Now that’s just a fancy-shmancy way of saying you can select any cells you want, regardless of whether they are next to each other in a column or row. Simply hold the Ctrl key while you click any single cells or select any range of cells.

Bonus: You can also use the AutoCalculate tool at the bottom of you worksheet to analyze any combination of individual cells you have selected by holding down on the Ctrl key.

#2 – Using the Ctrl key enables Fast Navigation. By holding the Ctrl key and any Arrow Key, (up, down, left, or right), you can Instantly Transport to the last populated cell in that direction.

Bonus: Hold down the Shift key while you click any Ctrl-Arrow Key combination to Select All the cells between where you are and where you are transporting to (“Beam me up, Scotty…”)

#3 – You can also use the Ctrl key to Speed Up Data Entry. Let’s say that you want to put the same number, same string of text, or formula into a series of cells. You could do it the slow way by typing the number, string, or formula into the first cell and then copying and pasting it into the destination cells. But by select all of the cells you want to populate, typing the entry, and then pressing Ctrl Enter (be sure not to merely hit Enter), All of Your Selected Cells will be Identically Populated Instantly!

Now, I ask you, Does that Rock or What?