It is sometimes necessary to enter large amounts of data by hand into a spreadsheet. To facilitate this work, Gnumeric provides several techniques to facilitate the entry of large amounts of data.
If data are to be entered into a series of rows or columns, this region can be selected ahead of time thereby modifying the behaviour of the data entry keys (the Enter, Tab and arrow keys).
Select the region with the mouse. For example, the region from cell C4 to cell E8 can be selected by clicking with the left mouse button on cell C4 and dragging the mouse cursor to cell E8. (More information on complex selections is presented below.)
Enter data by typing the data and the the Enter key. If this is done repeatedly, the fifth time the Enter key is pressed, the selection will not move to cell C9 but will jump up to cell D4.
The Tab key can also be used instead of the Enter key to move sequentially through the selection.