Using range names in Excel (2023)

FAQs

Using range names in Excel? ›

Select the range you want to name, including the row or column labels. Select Formulas > Create from Selection. In the Create Names from Selection dialog box, designate the location that contains the labels by selecting the Top row,Left column, Bottom row, or Right column check box. Select OK.

Using range names in Excel allows you to quickly navigate to areas of your worksheet and makes formulas much easier to create. A range name is simply a name you assign to a range of data and is much easier to remember than a cell address.

Just select the name of interest in the Excel Name Manager, and type a new reference directly in the Refers to box, or click the button at the right and select the desired range on the sheet. After you click the Close button, Excel will ask if you want to save the changes, and you click Yes.

Conclusion: naming ranges in Excel has many advantages, making your workbooks easier to read, making formulas faster to type and debug, and allowing to create ranges with variable-size to make your spreadsheets dynamic and easy to update.

So, what are the disadvantages of name ranges? Well, at first, if you don't use them often, they can seem just a little bit fiddly. The second disadvantage of name ranges is that they don't lend themselves to copying relative references. However, there are some workarounds for this when we are creating name ranges.

To filter for unique values, click Data > Sort & Filter > Advanced. To remove duplicate values, click Data > Data Tools > Remove Duplicates. To highlight unique or duplicate values, use the Conditional Formatting command in the Style group on the Home tab.

How to use named range in data validation? ›

Go to Data > Data validation. On the sidebar, click “Add a rule”. Select “Dropdown (from a range)” under 'Criteria'. In the range selection box, type the name of your range and press 'Enter'.

After you define Excel names, you can use the names in a formula, instead of using a constant value or cell references. For example, a cell that contains the revenue for each state could be named Revenue or Rev. Then you could use functions and reference the named range. Example: =Sum(Revenue) or =Average(Revenue).

A table is a defined grid of cells for data and formulas that automatically expands as you add to it and also automatically has the capacity to sort and filter. Creating a table also automatically adds a named range to your worksheet. A named range is just one or more cells to which you, or Excel, have assigned a name.

The name string must begin with a letter or underscore character. Remaining characters in the name can be letters, numbers, periods, and underscore characters. Spaces are not allowed, but two words can be joined with an underscore (_) or period (.).

The only problem is that named ranges, especially dynamic ranges, consume a considerable amount of working memory. Overusing them may slow down your Excel spreadsheet.

It provides an indication of statistical dispersion. It is always measured in the same units as the data. As it only depends on two of the observations, the range is useful for showing the spread within a dataset and. And also for comparing the spread between similar datasets.

Version 2 uses named ranges, making its formulas much easier to understand. Named ranges also make it easier to enter formulas, since Excel will display a list of names, including function names, that you can pick from, whenever you start to type a name in a formula.

Range in Excel means any group of selected cells. It is defined by the reference of the top-left cell and the bottom-right cell. For example, in the left-hand part of the image below, the data is in the range A1:C6. Excel table is a structured and pre-formatted dynamic range of cells that has its own name.

Typically, Named Ranges will not significantly increase file size. Sometimes, however, they get corrupted in some fashion and add significantly to the file size. We recently received a workbook which contained over 2,600 Named Ranges, many of which were hidden and included external links.

Where a professional would use named cells? ›

Naming cells is used in businesses to store data and modify and refer them whenever necessary .

You can use a named range instead of a cell address in a formula. Answer: The statement is true. MS Excel allows us to assign names to cells in a worksheet and use it for quickly locating specific cells by entering the names. This could be useful when working with large spreadsheets.

Dynamic named range in Excel is the ranges that change as the data in the range changes, and the dashboard or charts or reports associated with them. So that is why it is called dynamic. So we can name the range from the name box, so the name is a dynamic name range.

Save Time Referencing Ranges with the Ctrl key

When writing formulas we sometimes need to create references to multiple cells or ranges. One quick way to do this is by holding the Ctrl key and then selecting the cells or ranges. Excel will automatically add the commas between the range references in the formula.

When you select the cells of a named range, you'll see the name in the name box. Now, you are ready to create a drop-down list that uses the named range. Select the cell where you want a drop-down list. Click Data Validation, select List, click in Source, press F3, select the name, click OK, and click OK again.

What is a benefit of using a range name in Excel? Range names are easier for people to remember than cell references.

A range name is a word or a string of characters that represent one or more cells. A Range name can contain up to 1000 characters but it must begin with a number. One benefit of using range names is that if you copy the formula, you do not have to make the cell reference absolute in the formula.

Range in statistics is simply the difference between the highest and lowest values in a set of data. For example, the lowest to the highest values of a salary dataset might be $10,000 to $50,000. In this case, the range of the data is $40,000, as $50,000 - $10,000 = $40,000.

This represents the difference between the smallest and largest values in the dataset. In statistics, the range is important for the following reasons: Reason 1: It tell us the spread of the entire dataset. Reason 2: It tells us what extreme values are possible in a given dataset.

Why would we use descriptive range names in formulas instead of using cell addresses? ›

Naming your ranges allows you use easily recognizable names in your formulas instead of cell addresses. Immediately, you can see how much easier it is to understand what is going on in the formula. The formula is easier not only to read but also to explain to others who aren't familiar with the workbook.