Life in the fast lane. (cursor movement in spreadsheets) (Techniques) (tutorial)

LIFE in the FAST LANE

A sprawling spreadsheet means a lot of work. Navigating from section to section isn't easy. Building a formula that relies on data stowed hundreds of rows away can require many repetitive keystrokes, and in a large model, observing the effect a minor change has on other data is a logistical challenge.

Don't be daunted by a large spreadsheet. Techniques for quickly moving the cell pointer from cell to cell and for physically reducing the working area let you move about the worksheet with ease. Among the tricks for shrinking the sheet are adding titles, creating a second window, and hiding columns.

Fast Navigation

The simplest way to shrink a spreadsheet is to navigate efficiently. The Arrow keys manage small hops from cell to cell. The PageUp, PageDown, Control-RightArrow, Control-LeftArrow, and Home keys allow you to take slightly bigger trips.

For example, PageUp and PageDown move the cell pointer up and down one screen, respectively. In both 1-2-3 and Symphony, Control-RightArrow moves the cell pointer right one screen, and Control-LeftArrow moves the cell pointer left one screen. In 1-2-3 only, the Tab key moves the cell pointer right one screen, and the Backtab key moves the cell pointer left one screen. The Home key moves the cell pointer to cell A1, and End-Home moves the cell pointer to the lower-right corner of the active area of the worksheet. 1-2-3 Release 3 contains other keys that allow you to move the cell pointer between worksheets and active files. See the reference manual for a complete list.

Of all the pointer-movement keys, the End key is the most versatile. When used in combination with other pointer-movement keys, the End keys uses worksheet data to determine how far to move the cell pointer.

To see the End key in action, build the small worksheet shown below.

Begin in a blank worksheet. Enter the labels shown in rows 76 through 85. Right-align the labels in row 80. Select/Range Label Right (in Symphony, MENU Range Label-Alignment Right) and specify range F80.I80. Then copy range E80..I83 to cell E86. Enter the values shown in ranges F81..H83 and F87..H89. Next, enter the formula @SUM(F81..H81) in cell I81. Copy that formula to ranges I82..I83 and I87..I89. Now select/Range Name Create (in Symphony, MENU Range Name Create), enter the name east, and specify range E79..I83. Use the same process to assign the name west to range E85..I89.

Move the cell pointer to cell E81. Press the End key followed by the RightArrow key. The cell pointer moves to cell I81, the last contiguous …