This chapter marks the beginning of the reference section of the manual. This part of the manual provides detailed descriptions of all of PlanMaker's functions organized into chapters by subject matter.
In this first chapter, you will learn how to enter data and how to edit worksheets. The chapter covers the following topics:
▪Entering data in cells
| The first section describes what you have to consider when entering text, numbers, dates, calculations, etc. in cells. |
▪Undoing changes
| The Undo button  in the Quick access toolbar can be used to undo the last changes. |
| The Redo command  in the Quick access toolbar is the counterpart to this – and reverses the Undo command. |
▪Repeating commands
| The Repeat command  in the Quick access toolbar repeats the last command that you have used with exactly the same settings. |
▪Selecting cells and cell content
| This section describes how to select cells – for example, by using the mouse or the keyboard. |
▪Deleting cells and cell content
| You can either use the Del key on the keyboard to delete only the cell contents or use the ribbon command Home | group Cells | Delete to remove cells completely from the worksheet (the rest of the worksheet moves up accordingly). |
▪Inserting new cells
| The ribbon command Home | group Cells | Insert inserts new cells in your worksheet and pushes the existing cells down (or right). |
▪Moving and copying
| Selected worksheet areas can be copied or moved with the commands of the ribbon tab Home | group Edit or simply by dragging them using the mouse. Formulas are automatically updated when you move or copy cells. |
▪Paste (special)
| The ribbon command Home | group Edit | Paste  | Paste special is a more powerful variant of the Paste command. You can specify exactly what to be pasted; for example, just the values or just the formatting. |
▪Filling cells automatically
| With the ribbon command Home | group Contents | Fill you can easily fill ranges of cells with identical values or a series of values. |
▪Working with multiple worksheets
| You can create multiple worksheets in a single document and stack them like a pile of paper, enabling you to do "three-dimensional" calculations. |
▪Naming cell ranges
| If you assign a name to a range of cells using the ribbon tab Formula | group Named areas | Edit Names, you can use this name in formulas – for example =SUM(Sales) instead of =SUM(A1:A5). |
▪Transposing cells
| The ribbon command Data | group Edit | Transpose exchanges the row and column orientation of a selected cell range. |
▪Splitting text into multiple columns
| With the ribbon command Data | group Edit | Text in columns you can distribute text entered in one table cell into multiple columns. |
▪Sorting cells
| With the ribbon command Data | group Filter | Sort you can sort ranges of cells according to one or more criteria. |
▪Filtering cells by their content
| The ribbon command Data | group Filter | AutoFilter or Special filter filters ranges of cells so that only cells that meet certain criteria are displayed. All rows in this range that do not match the filter conditions will then be hidden. |
▪Analyzing sheets
| This section introduces some tools that can be very useful for analyzing tables and detecting errors. These include a command for displaying formulas, syntax highlighting, a watch window for cell content, and several commands for auditing the formulas in a table. |
▪Updating sheets
| The calculations in a table are kept up-to-date automatically. Whenever you change the content of a cell, PlanMaker recalculates the entire workbook. If required, you can disable this behavior and use the ribbon command Formula | group Refresh | Update data | Update calculations to update the table manually. |
▪Using comments
| With the ribbon command Insert | Comment you can attach comments to cells. If you move the mouse over such a cell, the comment will be displayed. |
▪Goal seek
| The ribbon command Data | group Analyze | Goal seek determines by an approximation method which value a certain portion of a calculation must meet to extract a predefined result from the calculation. |
▪Scenarios
| The ribbon command Data | group Analyze | Scenario manager allows you to create and display different scenarios. You can use them to observe how the calculations in a worksheet change when the values in specific cells are altered. This enables you to perform all kinds of "what-if" analysis. |
▪Consolidating data
| The ribbon command Data | group Analyze | Data consolidation can be used to evaluate data from multiple cell ranges, for example, in order to calculate their total sums. |
▪Tables in worksheets
| This function is a particularly useful option: it formats an entire cell range in one of numerous predefined formats – at the touch of a button. Select a cell range and create a "table in a worksheet" by using the ribbon command Insert | Table. |
| This has the following effects: |
| The cell range is automatically formatted with a so-called table style. You can switch to a different table style anytime in order to change the appearance of the entire cell range at once. In addition to this, an AutoFilter is applied to the "table" automatically. Furthermore, special tools like adding a total row are available. |
▪Pivot tables
| Huge and complex amounts of data can be summarized to certain criteria very clearly with pivot tables. Select an existing data range and use the ribbon command Insert | Pivot table to create meaningful presentations of your data with little effort. With exercises in the section. |
▪Freezing rows and columns
| With the ribbon command View | group Windows | Freeze cells you can fix the first rows or columns of a worksheet on the screen. This will cause them to stay in place when you scroll the worksheet. This is ideal for row or column headings. |
▪Inserting special characters
| The ribbon command Insert | group Text | Symbol opens a dialog box with all available characters of a font. It can be used to enter special characters that are not readily accessible from the keyboard. |
For more information on these topics in the above order, see the following pages.