When working in Microsoft Excel there are several references or names which will appear on a regular basis, as well as different methods for navigating within the program. Which navigation option users choose mainly depends on personal preference however it is advisable to know the different options available.
If you are new to Excel then I recommend you take a look at my post: The Excel User Interface.
Workbook vs. Worksheet
You will often see references to the terms “Workbook”, “Worksheet” and “Spreadsheet”. These terms do have individual meanings when working with Microsoft Excel, therefore, it is important that you understand the differences.
- By default when Microsoft Excel starts the user is displayed with a new blank workbook.
- A Workbook contains one (1) worksheet by default.
- A Worksheet is a single sheet or page containing rows, columns and cells.
- A Spreadsheet is a term used to reference a single workbook or worksheet. It is a generic term used when referring to a file containing spreadsheet data.
It is easy to consider a Workbook as a real physical book with worksheets within it acting as separate pages or chapters. This then enables users to have one workbook, for example for Our House, and within it contain a worksheet for a weekly budget, another worksheet containing details of loan repayments, another worksheet containing information for bills such as electricity and phone bills. This allows users to have worksheets which are grouped together into one workbook with one filename instead of multiple files and workbooks.
The screenshot below shows one (1) workbook containing five (5) worksheets.
Navigating with the Keyboard
When working in Excel you can use either the keyboard or the mouse to navigate. You can also utilise several keyboard shortcuts to allow you to move around the program efficiently.
To navigate using the keyboard use the following keys:
| Enter | Completes any text which has been entered into a cell and moves the cursor to the cell below. |
| TAB | Moves to the next cell. |
| Up arrow | Moves up one cell. |
| Down arrow | Moves down one cell. |
| Left arrow | Moves left one cell. |
| Right arrow | Moves right one cell. |
Keyboard shortcuts
I am a massive fan of keyboard shortcuts and always talk to training participants about the use of shortcuts to save time and improve productivity. I believe that anytime you can keep your hands on the keyboard rather than having to move your hand over to the mouse, find the cursor on the screen, and move to or locate the button for the tool you wish to use, then you are bound to save yourself time and be working much more productively.
Here are a few great shortcuts when navigating around in Excel:
| Ctrl + Page Up | Move between the worksheets in your workbook from left to right |
| Ctrl + Page Down | Move between the worksheets in your workbook from right to left |
| Ctrl + Home | Moves your cursor back to cell A1 |
| Ctrl + End | Moves to the last used row & column in the worksheet |
| Shift + Home | Highlight cells from the current cell selected back to the first cell in the row |
| Shift + Page Up | Highlight cells from the current cell selected back to the first cell in the column |
| Shift + arrow keys | Highlights cells one at a time in the direction of the arrow used |
| Home | Move to the first cell of the row |
| Page Down | Move down the screen by one page |
| Page Up | Move up the screen by one page |
If you’d like a full page PDF document listing the best keyboard shortcuts you can use in Excel, check out my post: My favourite keyboard shortcuts in Excel.
Shortcut Menus
Shortcut menus are designed to provide quick access to common features related to an element within your worksheet. The Shortcut menu will change and customise itself so that the options available directly relate to the content you have selected however it also contains a default set of options which are displayed regardless of what you select. The default options include Cut, Copy and Paste; Paste Special; Insert, Delete and Clear Contents; New Comment, Format Cells, Define Name and Link.
To display the shortcut menu:
- Right-mouse click on any cell within your workbook.
- The Shortcut menu will appear (as shown to the right) and provide relevant options depending on the content of the cell you have selected.
- Select the option you wish to use.
Mini Toolbar
The Mini Toolbar is displayed when using the Right Mouse button. It provides quick access to the basic font formatting options. The Mini toolbar allows you to easily change the Font style, size, number format, font colour, fill colour, borders, and decimal places and utilise the Format Painter tool.
The Mini toolbar can save time where formatting options are needed by reducing the frequency you need to return to the Home tab for these features. Use the right mouse click to access these formatting tools from any location within your workbook.
To display the Mini Toolbar:
- Right-mouse click on a cell within your workbook.
- The Mini Toolbar will be displayed above the Shortcut Menu.
- Use the Mini Toolbar to apply any of the options available:
I hope this helps and provides some new techniques for navigating around Excel and utilising some of the shortcuts available to streamline your workflow.
