Naming Ranges of Cells
Excel offers a nice alterntive to describing a range of cells - naming. You can tell Excel to use a "name" for a range of cells and it will understand the cell addresses once they have been defined. This feature may not seem very useful, but it can be helpful in keeping up with what is happening if you happen to have several cells which are dependent on other cells. It is especially useful in working with complex formulas. For example, the formulas:
= b4*c4 and =(length)*(width) can both produce the same numerical result. But which is easier to check your work later?
Let's see how to make it happen. Start with a simple example like a column of numbers.
We suggest you select the entire range of numbers and the column heading if there is one. This will prove useful later.
Once you have all of the cells you plan to use in the range, click on Insert + Name + Define.
This will bring out the Name Define Wizard letting you tell Excel what you want to do.
You don't have to name your range the same as the column heading (but we suggest you have a good idea for using something else!)
If you selected the range BEFORE selecting to insert a Named range, the correct sheet address will be generated for you....
Otherwise, you will have to enter it yourself! Do you see why we suggested selecting the range FIRST?
Now, the proof of the process is in the testing...
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| Traditional range of cells | Use of "named" range |
Proof of success of both methods |
Earlier we suggested choosing a name for the range of cells that matched the column heading or at least would be prompted by the column heading. It is pretty easy to forget the exact spelling of the named range. Few people want to keep notes. We suggest using the column heading (or a derivative of it) as a visual prompt of the name selected in case you need a prompt of the label you selected.