1 - Introduction

Welcome

On Work Experience, you rarely build a spreadsheet from scratch. You edit one that's already there. A supplier changes a price, a row ends up in the wrong place, or you typed €15 when you meant €150. Today's lesson teaches the fixing moves that separate someone who actually uses spreadsheets from someone who retypes everything.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Edit cells with F2 or double-click, and use Delete vs Clear Formats correctly
Use Undo and Redo confidently to reverse mistakes
Copy, paste and drag-to-fill between cells to avoid retyping

Warm-up

Think about the last time you made a typo while texting. Did you hit Backspace 20 times, or tap the word to fix just the wrong letter? A spreadsheet gives you the same choice, and the second option is almost always faster. Keep that idea in mind as we work.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Key Concepts

Five editing moves do about 90% of the work in a real spreadsheet. Learn these now and you'll stop retyping rows forever.

Concept	Why it matters	Example
Edit mode — press {{key:F2}} or double-click a cell to edit its contents in place, instead of replacing the whole cell	Fixes one character without retyping the rest, which is faster and avoids new typos	A supplier name in your Centra stocktake reads "Musgrve". Double-click and insert the missing "a" instead of retyping the whole word.
Delete vs Clear Formats — {{key:Delete}} removes the cell's contents. Clear Formats removes colours and borders but keeps the value. Path: Excel: Home tab > Clear > Clear Formats. Google Sheets: Format menu > Clear formatting, or shortcut Ctrl+\	When a cell looks wrong, you need to know whether to strip the number or the formatting	A total cell has the right number but is shaded red from an old test. Clear Formats removes the red without touching the number.
Undo / Redo — {{kbd:Ctrl+Z}} (Windows/Chromebook) or {{kbd:Cmd+Z}} (Mac) steps backwards through recent actions. {{kbd:Ctrl+Y}} / {{kbd:Cmd+Y}} steps forward again	The most-used shortcut in any spreadsheet. It reverses deletes, bad pastes, wrong formulas, and sorts gone wrong.	You accidentally delete a whole column of Work Experience expenses. One {{kbd:Ctrl+Z}} brings it back, no retyping.
Copy / Paste — {{kbd:Ctrl+C}} then {{kbd:Ctrl+V}} ({{kbd:Cmd+C}} / {{kbd:Cmd+V}} on Mac) duplicates cells or ranges to another location	Reuses an existing row's structure instead of retyping, and keeps totals consistent	Copy the "200g crisps" row in your stocktake, paste it below, then edit just the size and price for the 500g bag.
Drag-to-fill — select a cell, then grab the fill handle (a small square at the bottom-right corner of the selection). Your cursor changes to a + crosshair when you hover over it. Drag to extend a pattern or formula	Fills weeks, dates, numbered lists, or formulas down a column in one drag, instead of typing each row	Column A reads "Week 1, Week 2, Week 3". Select those three cells and drag the fill handle down to auto-fill Week 4 through Week 10.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Explore Editing on a Practice Sheet

Before you touch your real project budget, build a tiny throwaway practice sheet and use it to try every editing move from the Key Concepts table. Nothing here is saved to your portfolio. The point is to break things safely and notice how the spreadsheet responds.

Set up your practice sheet first (2 minutes):

Open your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder in your cloud storage and create a new blank spreadsheet. Call it {{code:practice_editing}}. You can delete it at the end of the lesson.
Type these five rows into columns A and B (A = item, B = quantity):
A1: Crisps / B1: 12
A2: Biscuits / B2: 8
A3: Drinks / B3: 20
A4: Bread / B4: 5
A5: Milk / B5: 10
Now work through the exploration prompts below. Each one is a question to answer for yourself, not a step you have to get right. Try things, see what happens, and notice the pattern.

Exploration

Try three different ways to edit the number in {{cell:B1}}: double-click the cell, select it and press {{key:F2}}, or click in the formula bar at the top. Which feels fastest for you, and why?
Compare what happens when you press {{key:Delete}} on a cell that contains a number, versus using Clear Formats (in Excel: {{menu:Home -> Clear -> Clear Formats}}; in Google Sheets: {{menu:Format -> Clear formatting}} or the shortcut {{kbd:Ctrl+\}}). What stays and what goes in each case?
Press {{kbd:Ctrl+Z}} (Windows/Chromebook) or {{kbd:Cmd+Z}} (Mac) several times in a row. How many steps back can you undo? Now press {{kbd:Ctrl+Y}} (or {{kbd:Cmd+Y}}) to step forward again. What does that tell you about when you can and can't recover a mistake?
Select {{cell:A1}} and hover over its bottom-right corner until your cursor changes to a + crosshair. That is the fill handle. Drag it down to {{cell:A6}}. What does the spreadsheet do with the text? Now try the same thing starting from {{cell:B1}} (a number). What is different?
When you copy a cell and paste the value somewhere else, the paste is a snapshot. Changing the original doesn't update the copy. Prove it yourself: copy {{range:B1:B5}} with {{kbd:Ctrl+C}} / {{kbd:Cmd+C}} and paste it into column D starting at {{cell:D1}}. Now change {{cell:B1}} to 99. Does {{cell:D1}} change? What does that tell you about paste versus a live link?

Teacher Notes

Circulate and watch for students who are retyping instead of using edit mode. That's the key habit this activity is building.

+15 XP

4 - Common Issues

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
I double-clicked a cell and accidentally replaced the whole entry by typing over it	Press {{key:Escape}} immediately. This cancels the edit and restores the original value. If you've already pressed Enter, use {{kbd:Ctrl+Z}} / {{kbd:Cmd+Z}} to undo.
Drag-to-fill is copying the same value down, instead of extending a pattern like Week 1, Week 2, Week 3	Spreadsheets need at least two cells to detect a pattern. Select the first two cells together (e.g. the ones containing Week 1 and Week 2), then drag the fill handle from the corner of that selection.
I can't find Clear Formats anywhere	Excel: click the cell, then {{menu:Home -> Clear -> Clear Formats}} in the ribbon (the Clear button is an eraser icon). Google Sheets: {{menu:Format -> Clear formatting}}, or the shortcut {{kbd:Ctrl+\}}. It is not on the right-click menu in Excel.
Undo stopped working and {{kbd:Ctrl+Z}} does nothing	Undo history resets when you close and reopen a file. You can't undo changes from a previous session. Save often and keep the file open while you work.

+10 XP

5 - Independent Practice

Independent Practice

Your goal: Put today's editing moves straight to work on your real project budget, so you never again waste 10 minutes retyping a row when a price or quantity changes on you.

Time: ~20 minutes

Task: Open your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder in your cloud storage and open {{code:05_project_budget}}, the spreadsheet you started in the earlier budget lesson. Add at least five new rows of real costs for your Something Real project (Work Experience placement supplies, a local fundraiser, apprenticeship prep, whatever yours is). Then edit at least three existing rows using the editing moves you just practiced. Make at least one change that you then reverse with Undo, so you prove to yourself the safety net actually works.

Success criteria:

Five new cost rows appear in your budget with realistic euro amounts for your actual project
Three existing rows have been edited in place (amount changed, typo fixed, supplier or item name updated), not deleted and retyped
Any totals or averages in the sheet update automatically when you change a number
At least one edit was reverted using Undo after you decided it was wrong

Teacher Notes

Look for students retyping whole rows instead of using edit mode or copy/paste. That's the habit to catch.