Weekly Computer Tip # 224
1 March 2008

Count the number of selected rows or columns
(Microsoft Excel 2000-2007)

The other day - during an Excel Introduction course - a very observant course participant (Hi, Gordon!) asked what R1, R2, R3, R4 meant when he was getting to grips with selecting rows. So just in case any of you think you have to use complicated formulas to count the number of selected rows or columns, Gordon found a simple way.

Here's how:

1. Click on the row or column header. (The number or letter itself.)
2. Press and hold down the mouse button and drag the mouse pointer over the rows or columns you want to count.

As long as you don't release your mouse button you will see how many rows or columns you have selected. For instance, 4R (Microsoft speak for 4 rows) if I selected rows 13-16 or 3C (3 columns) if I selected columns F-H.

By the way, the fact that this tip is on a Saturday morning rather than Friday, doesn't mean I had the day off yesterday. And yes, I knew about the fact that we were supposed to give our workers a day off to help reduce our carbon footprint, but obviously nobody thought of doing a reality check about what is possible for small businesses, so one of my trainers and me had to fly back after a full week work in Germany. Do I feel guilty? Well, guess I've done my bit by not having kids. ;-)

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