| The Shift key gets its name from the typewriter. To type upper case characters you'd press the Shift key, holding it down and then another key. It would actually move the printing arms of the typewriter upwards. This would allow you to type the upper case characters ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
There are two usages for the Shift key and one is useful in Excel. You can hold the Shift key down while Excel starts and: Another usage of the Shift key is to hold it down while your computer boots up. Each system is a little different but one reason to use this is to switch the Fkeys so they execute without holding down the FN key. Another standard usage is multi-select. Hold the Shift key down and select a start and end range and all the cells between them will be selected. |