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[Pegi C]

I am learning EXCEL, am a 365 Subscriber and am taking an online course.  Some of the threads I've read are way too advanced for me.  Are there simpler replies?

I am taking an online course and some of the steps that I've done according to the course do not come out correctly.  Example:

Adding formulas per these instructions:    "You can add several cells at a time in your calculation using the mouse. Add another plus character to the active cell and hold the CTRL keyboard key. Use your mouse button to highlight all cells that you want to use in the calculation.   

Notice that Excel uses the colon character to indicate a range of cells. In this example, the range F1 to H1 are added to the calculation. Any values entered into these cells will be added to the result. If no values are entered into these cells, Excel treats them as zero and no changes are made to results.                

This does not happen in my app.  I tried holding Ctl and adding + but that didn't work.  I added + then CTL and highlighted the G & H cells but this is what the formula looks like now:  =+A1+B1+F+F1,G1,H1  NO colon shows up #NAME shows in C cell

What am I doing wrong?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@Pegi C 

You can use this method with the SUM function.

Type =SUM(

Point to a cell, or drag the mouse over a range of cells.

Excel will add the cell or the range to the formula. If you selected more than one cell, it will use the notation firstcell:lastcell

Then hold down Ctrl and point to another cell or drag the mouse over another range of cells.

Etc.

Finally, type } and press Enter or Tab.