See also

• Worksheet design strategy.
• Fill data in worksheet cells.

Rename, insert, and delete worksheets

To rename sheet tabs:

1. Start Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007. Right-click a worksheet tab at the bottom left of the window, and then click Rename. (Or on the Home tab on the Ribbon at the top of the screen, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Format, and then click Rename Sheet.)
2. Type the new name, and then press ENTER.

To add color to sheet tabs:

• Right-click the worksheet tab at the bottom left of the window, point to Tab Color, and then select the color you want. (Or on the Home tab on the Ribbon at the top of the screen, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Format, point Tab Color, and the select the color you want.)

To insert a worksheet:

• Click the Insert Worksheet button (to the right of the sheet tabs). (Or on the Home tab on the Ribbon at the top of the screen, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Insert, and then click Insert Sheet.)

To delete a worksheet:

• Right-click the sheet tab of the sheet you want to delete. Click Delete. (Or on the Home tab on the Ribbon at the top of the screen, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Delete, and then click Delete Sheet.)

Tip    If you'd like more or fewer than three worksheets in each new workbook, you can change the number. Click the Microsoft Office Button in the upper left. Then click Excel Options in the lower right. Click Popular. Under When creating new workbooks, in the Include this many sheets box, type or select the number of worksheets you want in new workbooks.

To create a new workbook if you've already opened Excel, click the Microsoft Office Button and then click New. In the New Workbook window, double-click Blank Workbook.

Enter data

Press TAB to move the insertion point to the right one cell on the same row. Press ENTER to move the insertion point down one cell in the same column.

To enter dates:

• Use a slash or a hyphen to separate the parts of a date. For example, 7/15/2009 or 16-July-2009. To enter today's date, press CTRL+; (semicolon).

To enter a time:

• Type a space and then an "a" or a "p" after the time. For example, 9:00 p. Otherwise, Excel enters the time as AM. To enter the current time, press CTRL+SHIFT+; (semicolon).

To enter numbers:

• Negative numbers entered with parentheses (100) will be displayed with a minus sign: -100.
• To enter fractions, leave a space between the whole number and the fraction. For example, 1 1/8.
• To enter a fraction only, enter a zero first. For example, 0 1/4.

  Note    You can format cells before you type so that you do not have to enter a zero first. You might do this if you have to enter a lot of fractions, and you want to avoid having to enter zero all the time. On the Home tab on the Ribbon, in the Number group, click this sign on the right to open the Format Cells dialog box. On the Number tab, select Fraction, and then under Type, depending on what sort of fraction you want, select a format.

You don't always have to enter everything yourself. Sometimes pre-written downloadable templates are just the ticket. Click the Microsoft Office Button on the upper left of the Ribbon. Then click New. The New Workbook window, on the left, shows templates you can get from Office Online.

Data-entry timesavers

AutoFill    Use the fill handle to enter the months of the year, days of the week, consecutive dates, or a series of numbers. You type one or more entries, and then use the fill handle to fill in the rest.

AutoComplete    If the first few characters you type in a cell match an entry you've already made in the same column, Excel will fill in the remaining characters for you. Just press ENTER. This works for text or for entries with text and numbers. It does not work for numbers only, nor does it work for dates or times.

Edit data

Do one of the following:

• Double-click the cell that contains the data you want to edit.
• Click the cell that contains the data you want to edit, and click anywhere in the formula bar.

• To delete characters, press BACKSPACE, or highlight them and then press DELETE.
• To insert characters, click where you want to insert them, and then type.
• To overwrite characters, highlight them and then type the new characters.
• To enter your changes, press ENTER or TAB.

Tip    To start a new line within a specific point in a cell, click where you want to break the line, and then press ALT+ENTER.

Insert and delete columns and rows

To insert or delete columns:

• To insert, click a cell immediately to the right of where you want to insert a new column. On the Home tab on the Ribbon, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Insert, and then click Insert Sheet Columns.
• To delete, click a cell in the column. On the Home tab on the Ribbon, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Delete. Click Delete Sheet Columns.

To insert or delete another column after you've done one, press F4.

To insert or delete rows:

• To insert, click a cell in the row immediately below where you want the new row. Then, on the Home tab on the Ribbon, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Insert. Then click Insert Sheet Rows.
• To delete, click a cell in the row. On the Home tab on the Ribbon, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Delete. Then click Delete Sheet Rows.

To insert or delete another row after you've done one, press F4.