What term describes a cell that is ready for input?

An active cell is the name of a cell that is ready for a user to enter data into it. It mainly applies to selected cells in spreadsheet applications, such as Microsoft Excel.

An active cell has special formatting that none of the other cells in a worksheet have, to distinguish it as ready for input. In Excel, a heavy, dark border, or cell pointer, outlines the active cell. Word processing applications only have an active cell if a user creates a table, but there is no special formatting to indicate which one it is, other than the blinking cursor inside the cell the user has clicked.