Canceling an Edit

Summary: When editing a cell, you may want to cancel the edit at some point. There are two ways to do this, both described in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

As you are entering information in a cell, you may want to cancel what you are entering. For instance, you may have selected the wrong cell before you started typing, and you want to "back out" of the edit you are making.

There are two ways you can do this. The first is to simply press the Esc key, and the other is to click on the red X just to the left of the Formula bar. (The red X only appears after you start typing.) Regardless of the method you choose, Excel undoes your changes and returns the cell to its state just before you started typing.

If you make a mistake and press Enter, Excel replaces the contents of the cell with whatever you were typing. To undo this, you should use the Undo feature of Excel: simply press Ctrl+Z or click on the Undo tool on the toolbar.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2617) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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