Introduction to Named Ranges in Excel

Named Ranges allow you to give custom names to cell references. So instead of seeing the cell reference “E5” we see “Sales” in formulas.

In this 8 minute introductory video we cover:

• Three great reasons to learn how to use named ranges in Excel
• How to add a new Named Range using the name box
• How to add, edit and delete Named Ranges using the Name Manager dialog box
• A quick way to add multiple Named Ranges from the current selection
• A sample spreadsheet that uses named ranges and formulas to convert USD Movie Gross Receipts into other currencies

Note on Names that can be used

Named Ranges in Excel can contain letters, numbers, and some special characters.

Here are some rules for Named Ranges:

• The first character must be a letter or an underscore character. Remaining characters in the name can be letters, numbers, periods, and underscore characters.
• Names cannot be the same as a cell reference, such as Z$100 or R1C1.
• Spaces are not allowed. Underscore characters and periods may be used as word separators for example “First.Quarter” or “Sales_Tax”
• A name can contain up to 255 characters.
• Names can contain uppercase and lowercase letters. Excel does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase characters in names. For example, if you have created the name Sales and then create another name called SALES in the same workbook, the second name will replace the first one.

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