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Individual cells and rectangular ranges of cells may be
referred to by their standard address coordinates
(A5..D25, for example) or by pre-assigned names. Using
names can help clarify the logic of your spreadsheet,
making it easier to share among users, and easier to
update long after it was originally designed. The Named
Range option lets you assign a name to any cell or range.
Once defined, names can be used anywhere standard cell or
range references are used including cell formulas.
The following guidelines apply to named ranges:
- NExS differentiates between upper and lower-case
letters in range names. For example, NExS would
consider ``Range1'' and ``range1'' to be different names.
-
Names must begin with an uppercase or lower-case
alphabetic character. The rest of the name may
include any combination of alphabetic characters,
numeric characters and the following characters:
$, ., or _.
- When an area containing a named range or cell is
moved, NExS automatically updates the definition of
the name to reflect the new location.
-
Named cells and ranges can have relative or absolute
addresses. When cells containing references to named
cells with absolute addresses are moved, the
references are not updated.
- When cells containing a reference to a named cell or
range are copied, NExS converts the reference to an
appropriately translated standard reference.
-
If you redefine a name, all instances of that name in
the spreadsheet are updated as soon as the spreadsheet
is recalculated.
- If you remove a name definition, all references to
that name in the spreadsheet are converted to
appropriate standard references.
To name a cell or range:
- Select the cell or range to be named.
- Select Named Range... from the Edit menu. NExS
displays the Named Range dialog box as show in
Figure 5.4.
- In the Selection entry box, the current cell or range
is displayed. Click on the entry box before the
equal (=) sign and enter a name.
- Click Set or press [Return]. Click Cancel
to dismiss the dialog box.
To clear the name from a cell or range:
- Select Named Range... from the Edit menu. NExS
displays the Named Range dialog box as shown in
Figure 5.4.
- Click on an entry in the Named Range List box. NExS
displays your choice in the Selection entry box.
- Click Clear.
Figure 5.4: Named Range Dialog Box
Next: 5.12 Copying Data
Up: 5 Manipulating the Spreadsheet
Previous: 5.10 Specifying Cells and
NExS User's Guide, Version 1.4.5
Grey Trout Software
11 April 1999