What Are Excel Ranges? A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular spreadsheet applications in the world. What you may not know is that the very first version of Excel was developed for Mac.

Excel first appeared in 1985 before the Microsoft Windows operating system had even launched. It wasn’t until 1987 that Excel became available on Windows.

Since then, Excel has gone from strength to strength and become an incredibly powerful piece of software. If you’re just getting started in the world of Excel, then there is plenty to learn.

One of the key things you need to know about is Excel ranges. Read on to learn more.

What is an Excel Cell Range?

Each cell in an Excel spreadsheet has its own reference. The columns are labeled from A to Z, and then AA to ZZ, and so on. The rows are labeled with numbers. For example, the top-left cell of the whole spreadsheet is A1. The cell to the right is B1, whilst the cell beneath it is A2.

What if you want to refer to more than one cell at once, however? This is where cell ranges come in. They allow you to describe multiple cells.

Ranges can be used in a number of different ways, which we will look at in more detail below, but first, let’s look at how they’re defined.

How Are Cell Ranges Defined?

One of the benefits of Excel is that you can refer to multiple cells without the need to list them all individually.

To define a set of consecutive cells, you simply need to include the references of the cell at the top left of your selection and the cell at the bottom right. For example, to define all the cells in columns A to F as far down as row six, the cell range would be (A1:F6). The colon between indicates that you want to include all the cells in between.

If you want to define multiple individual cells or multiple ranges, you can use a semi-colon in between each cell or range. For example, to define the cells we chose above as well as cell G7, the range would be (A1:F6;G7). You can use as many semi-colons as you want in your range.

How Do You Use Excel Ranges?

Now you know how they work, you’ll want to know how to use Excel ranges.

They can be used in formulas. For example, SUM(A1:F6) will add up all of the cells in the range. COUNT(B3:J7) will count all the cells in the range that contain data.

You can even use ranges in programming. For example, if you’re using C# in Excel you can define a C# Excel range. Once you know how Excel ranges work the world is your oyster.

Learn More About Excel

Excel ranges are just one of the powerful features in Excel that allow you to manipulate data quickly and easily.

The more you learn about Excel, the more use you can get from it. There are so many great functions and features that there will always be something new to learn. From pivot tables to visual basic programming, Excel can do almost anything you can imagine.

If you’re looking for more useful content then be sure to check out the rest of the site.