When setting up an MS Excel spreadsheet try naming ranges or cells instead of manually entering complicated labels like A1:E10.

Let’s say you are setting up a spreadsheet to track your finances. If you are like me this spreadsheet has information like passwords and account numbers that for security reasons, I don’t generally want to print. So let’s name a range “quick_print.” Here’s how.

1. Start by selecting the range you want to name with your mouse.
2. From the Insert menu select Name and then Define.
3. Enter the name “quick_print” in the top box and hit OK.

Now any time you want to select this range you can simply use the pull down box at the top that has cell addresses in it or, alternatively, select Edit and then Go To and select the range. You can also use this technique to name a cell using common labels. For example when you enter the balance for your bank account you might want to name this cell “bank”. You can then use the term “bank” in MS Excel formulas like =”bank”+”stocks” instead of complicated formulas using cell addresses.