Data entry is copying information from a document into a spreadsheet, quickly and without mistakes. A handful of keys do most of the work.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
cursor in A3 Tab stored each value and moved right. Enter stored the last one and went back to column A, ready for the next line.
Data entry means copying information from a document into a spreadsheet: a delivery note into a stock list, invoices into a ledger, paper forms into a table. Office, admin and warehouse jobs often test it before they hire, usually against the clock, scoring both how much you enter and how much of it is wrong.
Speed doesn’t come from typing faster. It comes from keeping your hands on the keyboard and your eyes on the document, and from never typing what the sheet can type for you. Below you type a delivery note in step by step, then see each habit played out on a small sheet where you can make the classic mistakes yourself.
This is Witsheet, Witsy’s in-browser spreadsheet. It works like Excel and checks each step as you go.
Tab stores what you typed and moves one cell right. Enter stores it and moves down, and after a row typed with Tabs it goes back to the column where the row began. So a whole table goes in with two keys, a line at a time, without touching the mouse.
A3:C3 = Notepads, 30, B1 Each Enter went back to column A, so the second line sits exactly under the first. No clicks, no looking away from the delivery note.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
An arrow key also stores what you typed and moves, which is why it’s easy to mix in. It doesn’t remember where the row began, though, and one arrow is enough to shift every line after it by a column. That’s hard to spot later, because each value looks fine on its own.
Order numbers, dates, months, line numbers: anything that runs in sequence can be left to the fill handle, the small square at the corner of a selection. Drag it, and Excel carries on with what it sees. What it sees depends on what you selected.
A4:A7 = 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006 1001 and 1002 make a step of one, and the fill handle carries it on. No order number is typed, so none can be mistyped.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
Hand-typed sequences are where skipped and doubled numbers come from. A filled series can’t skip a number or type one twice.
When the same value goes down a column, such as a shelf, a date or a supplier, select the cells first, type the value once, and press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac) instead of Enter.
C2:C6 = Shelf B, Shelf B, Shelf B, Shelf B, Shelf B Typed once, stored in all five: the quick way with a shelf, a date or a supplier that repeats down a column.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
Data entry tests score accuracy as well as speed, and so does anyone who finds a stock count that’s off. The quickest check is a total: add up the numbers you typed, and the same numbers on the document you copied them from. If the two match, a mistyped number is very unlikely.
B6 = 89 Your column adds up to 89, 18 more than the delivery note. A gap that divides by 9 is the sign of two swapped digits: 42 typed for 24.
A total doesn’t check text, so read the names back too, and watch for spaces you can’t see: “Staplers” with a space after it isn’t the same item to a formula. Data cleaning practice covers finding and fixing those.
To carry on in your own Excel, download the workbook. It’s the same job at full size: a 40-line delivery note to type into a blank stock sheet, and six tasks that take you from accuracy to speed.
A 40-line delivery note to type into a blank stock sheet: Tab and Enter, a total that checks your work, the fill handle for line numbers, then the clock.
40 rows · Item · Qty · Shelf
Free · fictional data · opens in Excel and Google Sheets
Witsy’s Excel course teaches a few hundred small skills, called Wits, the way this page teaches data entry: in a real spreadsheet, a step at a time. The placement test finds the ones you already have.
Take a few minute test to see how good you actually are with spreadsheets. Witsy creates a map of the Wits you should learn next.
Take the placement test Or just start learning →