Lesson 3 – Basic Data Entry & Editing

MS Excel Course • Level 1 – Beginner Essentials • Lesson 3

In this lesson, you will learn the basics of entering, editing, and clearing data in Excel.

What you will learn

• Entering text, numbers & dates
• Editing and replacing data
• Clearing data vs deleting cells
• Copy, Cut & Paste

1. Entering Data

Click any cell → start typing → press Enter.

Types of Data

• Text: "Apple", "Maths", "Varanasi"
• Numbers: 123, 45.67
• Dates: 12/01/2025, 1-Jan-2025

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Enter → Go down
• Tab → Go right
• Ctrl + Enter → Keep cursor in same cell after typing

2. Editing Data

To edit a cell:

• Double-click the cell
• OR press F2

After editing → press Enter.

3. Clearing vs Deleting

• Clear → Removes data only (cell stays)
• Delete → Removes cell and shifts others

Clear shortcuts

• Delete key → Clear data
• Home → Clear → Clear All

4. Copy, Cut & Paste

• Ctrl + C → Copy
• Ctrl + X → Cut
• Ctrl + V → Paste

You can also drag fill handle (small square on bottom-right of cell) to copy values.

Press Ctrl + D to fill down. Press Ctrl + R to fill right.

Practice Task

• Type a list of 10 fruits in column A
• Change fruit number 5
• Copy column A to column B
• Clear column B (don’t delete)

Homework

• Create a small table with 3 columns: Name, Age, City
• Enter 10 rows of your own dummy data
• Edit 3 of the rows