Name

The ability in Excel to define cell ranges by a Name.

Excel Name Ranges are extremely useful when using Vlookup or Hlookup to reference values in a financial table.

You can do away with defining cell ranges over and over in database tables when you want to search for conditional values.

Run your cursor over the entire cell range so that all cells are "selected".

Move your cursor up to the Name box, which is to the extreme left of the Formula toolbar. Type in your chosen "Name" for the reference cell range. Click return.

Now, when you are using a database lookup command, you can refer to the cell range simply by typing in the Name.

For example, if you select and Name a cell range "StockTable" which is your database of different stock symbols attached to different stock names and current prices, and you want to bring up a particular stock price using its symbol to define value, you can use this type of command:

VLOOKUP(lookup_value,StockTable,col_index_num,range_lookup).

It can be quite frustrating to work out how to delete Names. Microsoft is not exactly forthcoming how this can be achieved.

If you want to delete a Name cell range, go to Insert > Name > Define > Delete.