Page 111 - Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

entry — if it exists — returns), and you’re then free to move the cell cursor to the desired cell and redo the entry there.
Data entry keyboard style
The only trick to entering data from the keyboard is to figure out the most efficient way to complete the entry in the current cell (and Excel gives you many choices in this regard). You can, of course, complete any data entry by selecting the Enter button on the Formula bar (presumably this is what Microsoft intended; otherwise, why have the button?), but clicking this button is not at all efficient when the mouse pointer isn’t close to it.
You should know of another potential drawback to clicking the Enter button on the Formula bar to complete an entry: When you do this, Excel doesn’t move the cell cursor but keeps it right in the cell with the new data entry. This means that you still have to move the cell cursor before you can safely make your next data entry. You’re better off pressing the Enter key because doing this not only completes the entry in the cell, but also moves the cell cursor down to the cell in the next row.
Of course, pressing the Enter key is efficient only if you’re doing the data entry for a table or list down each row across the succeeding columns. If you want to enter the data across each column of the table or list down succeeding rows, pressing Enter doesn’t work to your advantage. Instead, you’d be better off pressing the → key or the Tab key to complete each entry (at least until you get to the cell in the last column of the table) because pressing these keys completes the entry and moves the cell cursor to the next cell on the right.
Take a look at Table 1-2 to get an idea of the keys that you commonly use
to complete data entries. Keep in mind, however, that any key combination that moves the cell cursor (see Table 1-1 in Book I, Chapter 1, for a review of these keystrokes) also completes the data entry that you’re making, as does clicking another cell in the worksheet.
Table 1-2
Press Key
Enter
↓
Tab
→
Shift+Tab
← ↑
Keys Used in Completing Data Entry
To Have Cell Pointer Move
Down one row Down one row Right one column Right one column Left one column Left one column Up one row
Data Entry 101 93
Book II Chapter 1
Building Worksheets