Call a cell by name. (assigning range names to areas of a Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet)(Start Here) (tutorial)

CALL A CELL BY NAME

If you've been following this column, you're now comfortable creating formulas, assigning ranges for graph and database settings, copying and moving cells, formatting ranges, and inserting and deleting rows and columns. But you're probably still using combinations of column letters and row numbers to identify cells and ranges on the sheet.

For example, you may graph range B3..B7 against range A3..A7, when what you're really thinking about is graphing May sales by salesperson. Likewise, you may sum the values in range B3..B7 when what you're looking for is the total of May sales. Working with cell and range addresses isn't all that tricky, but many spreadsheet tasks become easier when you can call a cell or range by name.

1-2-3 lets you assign a name to any cell or range in the worksheet. After assigning a name, you use the name in place of a cell or range address when you issue a command that requires you to identify a cell or range. To see how this works, create the simple spreadsheet shown in the figure at the top of the next column.

Enter the centered …