How to Store and Retrieve Data in Microsoft Excel for the iPad

2/6/2015

Contents

Enter and edit data on worksheets

Excel for iPad has a Ready mode and an Edit mode. When you’re working with the structural aspects of cells, Excel is in Ready mode and the active cell or cell range has selection handles. When you’re working with cell content, Excel is in Edit mode and there are no selection handles.

When you enter Edit mode, the Formula Bar opens above the worksheet, and the on-screen keyboard opens below the worksheet. This compresses the workspace significantly. You can orient your iPad horizontally to display more columns or vertically to display more rows.

When Excel is in Edit mode, you can select individual cells, columns, or rows, but you can’t expand the selection directly on the iPad. (You can do so from a connected external keyboard.) Selecting a column or row activates the first cell in the column or row for editing.

Select cells, columns, and rows

A key step in the process of entering, modifying, or formatting worksheet content is selecting the cell or cells you want to work with. You can use these selection methods in the Excel for iPad touch interface:

To select a cell, tap it once.

TIP

Selecting a cell or range of cells displays selection handles in the upper-left and lower-right corners of the selection and a related statistic on the status bar. For more information, see the sidebar “Quickly display statistics” in Chapter 8, “Process and present numeric data.”
To select a range of cells, select the upper-left cell in the range, and then drag the lower-right handle to the lower-right cell of the range or flick the handle down or to the right to select all populated cells in that direction (from the current cell to the next blank cell).
To select a column, tap the column heading (the colored block above the worksheet that is labeled with a letter). Selecting a column displays selection handles on the left and right sides of the column and the content of the first visible cell of the column in the Formula Bar.
To select a row, tap the row heading (the colored block to the left of the worksheet that is labeled with a number). Selecting a row displays selection handles on the top and bottom of the row and the content of the first visible cell of the row in the Formula Bar.

TIP

Selecting a column or row displays a shortcut bar of relevant commands. To close the shortcut bar and maintain the selection, tap an empty area of the ribbon.
To select multiple columns or rows, select one column or row and then drag the handles to select adjacent columns or rows.

TIP

When an Excel table is active, tapping the column or row heading might select only the corresponding column or row of the table.
To select an entire worksheet, tap the Select All button, which is located at the junction of the column headings and row headings and is labeled with a triangle that points toward the worksheet.

When you enter Edit mode from a cell that already contains content, or switch to a cell that contains content while you’re in Edit mode, Excel displays and selects the cell content in the Formula Bar.

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The content of the active cell shifts to the far left when Excel is in Edit mode

In Excel for iPad, you enter and edit all text in the Formula Bar. The cell immediately displays the text, but the cursor is never active in the cell as it is in the desktop versions of Excel. In addition to the standard letters and numbers, you can enter the special characters that are available from the standard, number, and function online keyboards. Most notably, you can insert a line break within text to manually wrap cell content in a specific location.

If the data you want to enter follows a specific pattern such as 5, 10, 15, 20 or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you can establish the pattern and then have Excel continue the pattern and fill in the rest of the cells for you.

If the data you want to store in a worksheet already exists in another location, you can copy it from the source and paste it into the worksheet. This avoids the errors that can occur when entering data manually. The process of pasting content in Excel is the same as in other Office for iPad apps. If you paste a table into a worksheet, the table cells will map to the worksheet cells so that the table retains its structure.

Display and hide the shortcut bar

Regardless of your experience with Excel, it can take some practice to master the techniques for selecting and manipulating content by touch on an iPad rather than by using a mouse. When you are working with content in Excel for iPad, the shortcut bar can be very convenient because it provides access to the most frequently used commands for a selected entity. It can also be inconvenient because sometimes it opens on top of content or tools that you want to work with.

Tapping a cell and then tapping it again displays the shortcut bar for the cell. (This action of tapping twice isn’t the same as double-tapping; it’s slower and has a different result.) Tapping a column or row heading once selects the column or row and also displays the shortcut bar.

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You can perform most common tasks from the context-specific shortcut bar

You can hide the shortcut bar and still maintain the selection by tapping a colored part of the ribbon.

To switch from Ready mode to Edit mode

Do any of the following:
- Double-tap a cell.
- Select a cell and then tap the Formula Bar.
- Begin typing on a connected external keyboard.
- Press Ctrl+2 on a connected external keyboard.

To switch from Edit mode to Ready mode

Do any of the following:
- To complete the edit and move to the next cell, tap the Return key on the on-screen keyboard or press the Enter key on a connected external keyboard.
- To complete the edit and stay in the current cell, tap the Finish button (labeled with a check mark) at the right end of the Formula Bar or the Keyboard key on the on-screen keyboard.
- To complete the edit and expand the selection, hold down the Shift key and press an arrow key.
- To discard the edit, tap the Cancel button (labeled with an X) at the right end of the Formula Bar.

To enter or edit cell content

Switch to Edit mode, and then enter text from the on-screen keyboard.

Or

From Ready mode or Edit mode, enter text from a connected external keyboard.

To insert a line break in cell content

In Edit mode, position the cursor where you want the line break.
In the upper-right corner of the on-screen keyboard, tap the Function button (labeled 123) to display the function keyboard.

See Also

For more information about the function keyboard, see “Perform data-processing operations” in Chapter 8, “Process and present numeric data.”
On the function keyboard, press and hold the Return key (labeled with a curved arrow) to display the Line Break key, and then slide your finger to the Line Break key.

TIP

The Line Break key and other hidden keys are visible only until you lift your finger from the screen. For more information about hidden keys, see “Perform data-processing operations” in Chapter 8, “Process and present numeric data.”

To move the content of one or more cells

Select the cell or cells.
Tap and hold the selection until an animated dotted line outlines the selection. Then without lifting your finger, drag the selected content to the new location.

To fill cells with data that matches a pattern

In Edit mode, enter the first two items of the data series into adjacent cells.
Switch to Ready mode.
Tap the first cell and then drag the selection handle to select the second cell.
Tap the selection to display the shortcut bar.
On the shortcut bar, tap Fill. Note the arrows that appear on the right and bottom sides of the selected cell.
Drag the right-pointing arrow to the right to fill the series over, or drag the downward-pointing arrow down to fill the series down.

To delete cell content

Select the range of cells you want to clear.
On the shortcut bar, tap Clear.

Or

On the on-screen keyboard or a connected external keyboard, tap or press the Delete key.

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