Proper use of cell names and ranges in Microsoft Excel formulas makes working with them much easier. However, if the given names are too complex or uninformative, then all the benefits and advantages of using them may not justify themselves. When naming cells and ranges in Excel, try to adhere to the following 5 rules:
- Create names that are as short as possible, but at the same time they must be memorable and meaningful, i.e. reflect the essence. The maximum name length in Excel should not exceed 255 characters. For example, name nik23 short but lacking content. It will take several months, and you are unlikely to remember what it means. On the other hand, the name Quarterly_report_for_past_year – just shines with information, but as you may have guessed, it is very difficult to work with such a name.
- Cell and range names must not contain spaces. If the name consists of several words, you can use the underscore character. For example, Quarterly report.
- The character case does not matter. More precisely, Excel stores the name as you created it, but when using the name in a formula, you can enter it in any case. For example, saving the name as Quarterly report, in a formula, you can enter simply − quarterly report. Excel recognizes this name and converts it to the desired form.
- When composing a name, you can use any combination of letters and numbers, the main thing is that the name does not start with a number and is different from cell addresses. For example, 1 block и ABC25 cannot be used.
- Special characters and punctuation characters are not allowed, except for the underscore and period.
That’s all the rules! As you can see, everything is extremely simple!
So, in this lesson, you have learned some useful rules and guidelines for creating names in Excel. For more information on naming, read the following articles:
- Introduction to cell and range names in Excel
- How to name a cell or range in Excel?
- Name Manager in Excel
- How to name constants in Excel?