Sometimes you will only want to copy and paste certain aspects of a cell or group of cells, such as just the formula, or just the values.

To accomplish this in Excel you need to use the Paste Special command.

Paste Special gives you several options to choose from for pasting only the features that you wish to new cells.

Select the number of rows and columns that you wish to insert and choose either insert cells, rows, or columns depending on what type of insert you wish to do.

If you are inserting cells, choose either Shift Cells Right or Down to move existing cells in the direction you want.

To delete cells, select the cells you wish to delete and then pick Delete from the Edit menu.

You will need to choose from the pop-up box the direction you wish to shift the remaining cells after deleting.

If you do not wish to replace the cells with others, use Edit>>Clear.

If is possible in Excel to refer to a group of cells by a name rather than a cell reference.

You may also use this name to refer to cells in formulas.

For example, we could name row 1 income and row 3 expenses.

A formula in row 5 might read =Income-Expenses rather than =B1-B3.

To name a cell or group of cells select the cells you wish to name and choose Insert>>Name>>Define.

In the text box at the top enter a name for the range

Click the Add button to add the new name to the list and click Close.

The Paste Function button on the standard toolbar (looks like fx) lists all the available functions and gives a brief descriptions.

We can use this to insert functions quickly and easily.

Depending on what function you choose, you may see another dialog box.

Functions are ready-to-run tools that take a group of values and perform some specialized sort of calculation on those values.

For example, the SUM function will take a range of values and add them.

Besides saving typing, functions perform many complicated calculations that would take us much time. See example slide

By default, Excel always recalculates your formulas when new data is entered.

If you have a very large worksheet, this may slow things down considerable.

To turn this off goto Tools>>Options and click on the Calculation tab and choose Manual in the dialog box.

To force a new calculation press the Calc Now Key F9.

By default Excel shows the results of your formula in the cells and not the actual formula itself.

You can see all the formulas in your worksheet by choosing Tools>>Options and then the View tab. Select under Window Option the Formula check box.

Excel allows a wide variety of operators in formulas and supports some very advanced mathematical and statistical functions.

We will get more into these special functions later.

With Excel you build a formula by indication which values should be used and which calculation should apple to these values.

Excel formulas always begin with an equal symbol.

Normally you want to select the cells used in your formulas by pointing and clicking or by using the arrow keys rather than typing the cell reference in, which can lead to mistakes.