hello.



when you click on a cell, and then hold shift and click on some other cell, it will select a "path" of cells from the first to the last. the first cell (i will call this the "primary cell") is special in that if you hold shift down again, and click on another cell, it will change the path of selected cells as well as the last selected cell. however, when you move the entire group of selected cells, excel will change the *relative* location of the primary cell. how to prevent this from happening?

also, suppose your spreadsheet, for some reason, has 20000 rows, and the bottom 19000 rows are empty. how can you configure excel so that the spreadsheet only has 1000 rows (i.e. if you scroll to the "bottom", the row number is about 1000)?

thanks!

Hi,

What you call the "Primary" cell, is usually referred to as the "Active" cell. As you've discovered, you can have a selected cell, or a range of selected cells. If you select a range or block of cells (with the Shift key), the active cell will remain as the active cell, and even allow you to type in it without losing your selected range. As an experiment, select a range of cells, then hold down the enter key. You should see the active cell cycle through the selected range. As long as the range is not moved, the active cell will maintain it's relative position in the range. However, the moment you "move" a range, the current/relative active cell position is lost, and it resets to the upper left corner of the range you are working with.

Some Excel events (typing) will only affect the active cell, others (formatting) will affect the selected range.

As far as I know, the behaviour and relationship between the active cell and the selected range is part of the inherent programming within Excel, and cannot be changed.

Cheers,