Bold, AutoSum and the Date Stamp

About this lesson

Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U switch bold, italic and underline. Alt+= writes a SUM over the numbers above the cell. Ctrl+; enters today's date as a fixed value. Ctrl+Enter fills every selected cell with one entry.

By the end you can

make a selection bold, italic or underlined from the keyboard.
drop a SUM under a column with Alt+= and stamp today's date with Ctrl+;.
fill every selected cell with one entry using Ctrl+Enter.

Practises SUM TODAY

The idea

Three of these you know from every other program. The other three are Excel's own, and they save minutes. Alt+= writes a SUM over the numbers above the selected cell and waits for you to check the range. Ctrl+; stamps today's date as a value that never changes. That is what a log needs, and what TODAY() cannot give. Ctrl+Enter fills every selected cell with the one entry you typed.

The AutoSum mistake is trusting the guess. It stops at the first empty cell above. So a column with a gap gets half a total. Look at the dotted outline before you press Enter.

The mistake to watch for

Typing today's date, or using TODAY where a record was meant. Ctrl and the semicolon stamps the date as a fixed value in one press. That is right for recording when something happened. TODAY is right for a countdown and wrong for a record, because it changes tomorrow. And Alt with equals writes a SUM over the numbers above, with no range to mistype.

Where this comes up again

Date Arithmetic: Subtracting Dates Dates and Time
The SUM Function Spreadsheet Basics
Fill Down and Fill Right Spreadsheet Basics
Relative References Cell References and Fill

This lesson needs JavaScript to run. Everything below is the lesson in full, but you cannot type into the grid or be marked.

Press the shortcut

The heading row needs to stand out.

With `A1` to `D1` selected, make it bold.

Part

Row	A	B	C	D
1	Part	Bin	Stock	Reorder at
2	Hinge	A3	140	50
3	Bracket	A4	32	40
4	Bolt M6	B1	910	300
5	Washer	B2	1200	500
6	Castor	C1	18	12
7
8

Every step

1

The heading row needs to stand out. With A1 to D1 selected, make it bold.

Hint. Ctrl and B.
2

A note in A8 should read as a comment rather than data. Make it italic.

Hint. Ctrl and I.
3

The total row is being underlined by convention. Underline it.

Hint. Ctrl and U.
4

C7 should hold the total of the stock column. Put a SUM there in one keystroke, without typing the function.

Hint. Alt and the = key.
5

Stamp today's date into E1 as a fixed value that will not change tomorrow.

Hint. Ctrl and ;
6

Every cell in D2 to D6 should read 100. Type 100 once and fill the whole selection with it in one keystroke.

Hint. Ctrl and Enter.