Page 224 - Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

206 Copying and Moving Stuff Around Copying and Moving Stuff Around
Moving and copying worksheet data are among the most common editing tasks that you perform when editing a typical spreadsheet. Excel offers two basic methods for moving and copying a cell selection in a worksheet: First, you can use drag-and-drop to drag the cells to a new location, or second, you can cut or copy the contents to the Clipboard and then paste them into the desired area. Moving and copying data to new areas in a spreadsheet are basically very straightforward procedures. You need to keep a few things in mind, however, when rearranging cell entries in a worksheet:
✦ Whenyoumoveorcopyacell,Excelmoveseverythinginthecell,includ- ing the contents, formatting, and any comment assigned to the cell. (See Book IV, Chapter 3, for information on adding comments to cells.)
✦ If you move or copy a cell so that it overlays an existing entry, Excel replaces the existing entry with the contents and formatting of the cell that you’re moving or copying. This means that you can replace exist- ing data in a range without having to clear the range before moving or copying the replacement entries. It also means that you must be careful not to overlay any part of an existing range that you don’t want replaced with the relocated or copied cell entries.
✦ When you move cells referred to in formulas in a worksheet, Excel auto- matically adjusts the cell references in the formulas to reflect their new locations in the worksheet.
✦ When you copy formulas that contain cell references, Excel automati- cally adjusts the cell references in the copies relative to the change in their position in the worksheet. (See Book III, Chapter 1, for details on copying formulas in a spreadsheet.)
For situations in which you need to copy only a single data entry to cells in a single row or to cells in a single column of the worksheet, keep in mind that you can use AutoFill to extend the selection left or right or up or down by dragging the Fill handle. (See Book II, Chapter 1, for information about using AutoFill to extend and copy a cell entry.)
Doing it with drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop provides the most direct way to move or copy a range of cells in a single worksheet. To move a range, simply select the cells, position the pointer on any one of the edges of the range, and then drag the range to its new position in the worksheet and release the mouse button.
Note that you can’t use drag-and-drop to copy or move a cell selection unless the first cell of the range into which the cells are being copied or moved is visible in the Excel work area. This means that you can’t use drag-and-drop