By David Ringstrom, CPA
- Type the number 100 in cell A10.
- Press Ctrl-Home to move your cursor back to cell A1.
- Press End-Home to move to the last used cell in your worksheet. Your cursor should now return to cell A10.
- Press Ctrl-G (or the F5 key) to launch the Go To dialog box, enter the address TX5000, and then press Enter.
- Type the number 100 in cell TX5000 and then press Enter.
- Move your cursor up one cell and then press the Delete key to clear cell TX5000.
- Press Ctrl-Home to move your cursor back to cell A1.
- Press End-Home to move to the last used cell in your worksheet. Your cursor will now return to cell TX5000, even though you erased it.
- Press Alt-F11 to launch the Visual Basic Editor.
- Choose View, and then Immediate to display the Immediate window. This task pane allows you to carry out an ad hoc programming task without actually creating a formal macro.
- Type ActiveSheet.UsedRange in the Immediate Window and then press Enter. You won’t get any visual indication that anything has happened, but the active area of your worksheet will be reset.
- Choose File and then Close and Return to Microsoft Excel to close the Visual Basic Editor. There’s no need to erase the Immediate Window – it will clear itself when you close Excel.
- In your worksheet, press Ctrl-Home to return to cell A1 and then press End-Home to move to the last used cell. Your cursor should now return to cell A10.
David H. Ringstrom, CPA heads up Accounting Advisors, Inc., an Atlanta-based software and database consulting firm providing training and consulting services nationwide. Contact David at david@acctadv.com or follow him on Twitter. David speaks at conferences about Microsoft Excel, and presents webcasts for several CPE providers, including AccountingWEB partner CPE Link