Microsoft Excel is a popular application for creating and reading spreadsheets. Whether you use it to catalogue items, create a budget or analyze complex information, navigating data with JAWS can prove challenging.
You can navigate Excel quickly and efficiently with JAWS using keyboard commands. These are especially helpful when first assessing the contents of a spreadsheet and the various types of data it contains. Here are three tips that will help you with this process.
1. Locate The Cells That Contain Data
As a JAWS user, it can be difficult to assess which cells in a spreadsheet contain data upon initially opening it. This is especially true when those cells are nonadjacent to one another, requiring you to navigate through a series of blank cells in hopes you have located all the available data. Fortunately, you can use the “Cells with Data” option to list all the cells containing data so they all appear in one column.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to activate the “Cells with Data” menu which will present the visible cells on the worksheet containing data in a column. Use your up and down arrow keys to navigate through the list and enter to move to a specific cell. This menu can help you establish the layout of a spreadsheet so its contents will make sense.
2. List the Cells in a Specific Column or Row
If you want to narrow down your list of cells containing data to a specific column or row, use the following keyboard commands. Press INSERT+SHIFT+C to open the list of cells in the active column and INSERT+SHIFT+R to open those in the active row. Again, the cells will be listed in a column you can navigate using up and down arrow keys.
When in the list, press ENTER on a specific cell to navigate directly to it. These commands enable you to reduce the amount of data you are viewing at one time and concentrate on certain areas of the spreadsheet.
3. Move Through Multiple Worksheets in a Workbook
If your Excel workbook contains multiple worksheets, you’ll want to navigate back and forth through them with ease. Press CTRL+PAGE UP to move to the prior sheet in a workbook and CTRL+PAGE DOWN to move to the next one. This makes it easy to reference, manipulate and edit data quickly.
Want more tips and task-based demonstrations for working with spreadsheets? Join us this Thursday, June 6 at 12:00 PM Eastern for our live webinar, Microsoft Excel with JAWS. We’ll discuss important features and provide keyboard commands in this one-hour training designed to help increase your knowledge and sharpen your skills with this widely used application. Use this registration link to sign up today.