Yesterday we took a quick look at cell referencing in Excel, today we will go one step further with it and look at both ranges and named ranges in Excel. Again to re-iterate, we are covering some basics here so that when we start to look at formulas and where we can use them, everyone is on the same level (or at least has somewhere to go for more info).
Ranges
A range in Excel is a cell reference with two cells involved which are the upper left cell and lower right cell. Together they give us a range of cells within an Excel sheet. In the example below we have entered C4 as the upper left cell and E9 as the lower right cell. We can also do this by selecting C4 and dragging the mouse to E9.
There is also the option of having multiple ranges within one selection.
Named Ranges
If we are going to be in the position of using the same range within a number of formulas and the range itself doesn’t change within the formulas, then rather than using absolute references within the formulas we can use a named range. This does exactly what it sounds like, it lets us name a range. To perform this:
- Select Formulas from the data tab
- Select Define Name
- Type desired name, select cell range
- Select OK
Thats the next step towards using formulas in Excel taken……getting closer and closer!
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