Naming Single Cells
Contents
Excel and Pathagoras provide several tools for automatically naming cells based on the values of adjacent cells. We'll cover that further down in the Manual. But let's start at the 'beginning.'
Manually naming cells.
Activate the cell you want to name. (By activate, we just mean 'click inside of it'.) Then, click the 'Cell Name' box. (The Cell Name box is not actually labeled such. It is the box immediately above Column A. See screen shot below.) When you click inside this box, you see the last 'active' cell name highlighted in the name box ("B1"in the below example). Type "ClientName" as the name and then press the Enter key from the keyboard to lock in the name.
The arrow in the above image points to Cell Name box.
Type the name of the variable.
Press the Enter key to lock in the name.
Note: You must hit the Enter key when you have finished typing the name. You cannot just leave the Name box using your mouse. You can tell the name has been accepted when it centers in the box.
The Ctrl + F3 shortcut.
Activate the cell you want to name (just click inside of it). Then press Ctrl + F3. The Name window will display, showing all existing named cells and allow you to provide a name for the cell in which the cursor current resides. Type the name. Read the Tip below for more on this helpful naming feature that Excel provides.
So, if you are starting from scratch, you can quickly assign the names you want as variables in the left column and then just as quickly assign names to the cells immediately adjacent. See the next section for additional ways to name a cell from any adjacent cell. |
When you press Ctrl-F3, Excel presumes that the value contained in the cell immediately to the left of the cell you are naming is the name you want to assign, and will propose it to you. (If the name of the adjacent cell is made up of two words, such as "Client Name", Excel will automatically place an underscore character (_) between the two words and propose "Client_Name".)