Quickly enter data in a Excel2010 workbook

To work with data in a Excel2010 workbook, you must first enter data in the cell of the workbook. You might then need to adjust the data so that you can see the data and let the data appear the way you want it to.

Adjust settings

To wrap text in a cell, select the cell that you want to format, and then on the Start tab, in the Alignment group, click Wrap Line.

To set column widths and row heights to automatically adjust to the contents of a cell, select the column or row that you want to change, and then on the Start tab, in the Cells group, click Format. Under Cell size, click AutoFit Column width or auto adjust row height.

Enter data

Click a cell, and then type the data in the cell, and press ENTER or tab to move to the next cell. To enter data in a separate row in the cell, press Alt+enter to enter a line break.

To enter a series of contiguous data, such as a date, month, or progressive number, type the starting value in a cell, and then type a value in the next cell to create a pattern. For example, if you want to use series 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ..., type two and 1 in the first 2 cells. Select the cell that contains the starting value, and then drag the fill handle to cover the entire range you want to fill. To fill in ascending order, drag from top to bottom or from left to right. To fill in descending order, drag from bottom to top or from right to left.

Set data format

To apply a number format, click the cell that you want to format the number in, and then on the Start tab, in the number group, point to General, and then click the format that you want to use.

To change the font, select the cell that you want to format the data in, and then on the Start tab, in the Font group, click the format that you want to use.