So we've now seen how we can name a single cell using our Name Box.

There are,
however, several ways we can create named ranges and each of them has their own
advantage. So we are going to look at creating named ranges now in a bit more
detail. Uma has been asked to generate some stats from her HR database. This will
be much easier for her if she can name each of the columns. Let's start with our
Employee ID. So I'm going to click on A4 and then good shortcut key, CTRL + SHIFT +
down arrow, to select all the data till you hit a blank cell. Now let's recap on
Name Box. We're going to click into the Name Box, type EmpID for Employee ID and
click Enter. And we've now named that entire range. So that was the one method.
But, as promised, there are others. If you come to the Formulas tab on your Ribbon,
you will notice a Defined Names group. These are all the tools for working with
named ranges, and you can see there are actually quite a few. Now, the next tool we
are going to look at is Define Name. This allows us to define name and it has some
advantages over the Name Box. Let's do the Pension column this time. So I'm going
to click into O4 and note, I'm not including my heading. It's not actually part of
the data. So with Name Box and Define Name, we do not click on the headings. Now,
once again, CTRL + SHIFT + down arrow, come to Define Name and it's opened up the
Define Name dialog and even worked out from the label what I probably want to call
my range. So that's already great. I can also adjust the range if I need to. But
both of those are kind of nice-to-haves. The important thing is the second one, the
Scope. The Scope defines where this named range can be seen. By default, it can be
seen throughout the entire workbook, which is great, because I can refer to it even
if I'm on the Stats sheet. If, however, I wanted to duplicate my sheets, I'm not
allowed to have duplicate named ranges. So I could choose to change my scope to
only be, for example, in the Staff sheet. That means I can have something called
Pension in Staff and something called Pension in Stats. If you need to change your
Scope, it is important you do it upfront as this cannot be changed later. And
that's why we use the Define Name. We don't actually want to change our Scope and
we probably won't use this option very often, but at least you know where it is. So
we are going to say, OK. Now the last option is my favorite. I'm looking at this
data and I'm thinking, still 13 columns to name. So much for efficiency. Well, I
wouldn't lie to you. Excel gives us a fabulous tool, called Create from Selection.
This allows us to name multiple ranges simultaneously, using the labels already in
the workbook. So I'm going to name each of the columns, using the column headings.
Too easy. Let's start by selecting our data. Now, I've already done something
different. This time, I have included the headings. I'm now going to press CTRL +
SHIFT + down arrow, so I've selected all the data and the headings. We only do this
with Create from Selection, and that's because it needs the headings to work out
what to call the ranges. Now I come up to Create from Selection, I'm going to hover
for a moment, so you can see the shortcut key, CTRL + Shift + F3. What a mouthful,
but it's actually worth getting to know. And then I'm going to click. Now it's
asking if I want to name each of the columns, using the label in the top row or
each of the rows, using the label in the left column. I don't want to label my
rows, so I'm going to untick that and click OK. Let's go and check our Name Box.
Click the dropdown and there are all of my new named ranges. Wasn't that quick? And
if I'd check it out so I'll just click on Annual Salary, you can see it has named
the entire range but not included the heading. So to recap, we've looked at three
ways of creating named ranges. The Name Box, Define Name, and Create from
Selection. We only select the headings if we're using Create from Selection. The
benefits of named ranges might not be immediately obvious, but they will become
more obvious as we start using these in our formulas and functions throughout this
course.