All settings in the Edit tab effect all worksheets in the workbook. (The selections below show the default setup at excel installation)

Edit directly in cell

Un-checking this prevents the user from double-clicking on a cell and editing text or formulas within it. Cells/formulae can only then be edited via the formula bar.

Allow cell drag and drop

Allows cells to be dragged and dropped to new positions. Simply dragging 'moves' the cell(s), whereas holding the Ctrl key and dragging 'copies'. Un-checking this disables the feature and removes the 'fill handle' (Little square, bottom left of active cell, as below).

A sub-option to this is to alert if you are about to overwrite data already in the destination cells. (un-checking it will give no warning).

Move selection after enter

Un-checking this option stops the selection from moving when enter is pressed.

Checking it allows you to set the direction that the selection moves after enter is pressed. The default is down, but can be any direction. (Up, Down, Left, Right). This has no effect on the tab key direction which is always right until you reach the last column after which it moves down a row, unless the sheet is protected when tab will move across un-locked cells until it reaches the last one and then move down. (Using tab on locked/unlocked cells is a great way to navigate as the selection only moves to unlocked cells). (See protection).

Fixed decimal

This is the only option un-checked by default on this tab. Checking it will then allow you to enter a value in the box, the value here is automatically set as the number of decimal places for numbers entered, so for example, if you are entering currency, setting this to '2' would change an entry of 123 to 1.23. Setting it to '-2' would change the entry to 12300.

Entering a decimal during input on the sheet overrides this setting.

Cut, copy and sort objects with cells

Objects such as checkboxes, comboboxes, etc are associated with the cell on which they are placed on the worksheet, by having this box checked, any movements during inserts, sorting, or deletion of any cells, will take the associated object with it.

Ask to update automatic links

Formulae linking data from external Excel workbooks are set to 'automatic' by default. Having this box checked prompts you, when the workbook is opening, whether you want to update them or not (see below). 

This at least gives you the option of saying 'no' if you have no need for any updated data, you no these is no updated data, etc. as external links can take some time to update if there are many of them or they are using slow functions such as VLOOKUP.

Un-checking this box will simply update the external automatic links without further permission.

Provide feedback with Animation

Shows any row, column, cell deletions, etc with animation, making them easier to see, particularly if much of the areas being deleted are blank. This option may slow worksheet movements, deletions, etc on machines with low video processing power.

Enable AutoComplete for cell values

If you are entering list data into columns, enabling this feature (default) will try to 'auto complete' entries for you.  For this feature to work the data in the column must be contiguous, (no gaps) and have only text constants, (no numeric only or formulae).  As an example, the list below shows the entry in cell A6 after simply entering the 'N' of the name.( It is in fact case insensitive so would have found it with 'n' equally). This is because 'N' matches the first letter of the entry in A1. This would continue to match up until let's say you entered Nick S, at which point it sees no match is the list and allows you to continue on your own. Once you have a match, pressing enter will complete the entry for you. (If you had entered  a lower case 'n', excel would correct this too on entry).

Extend data range formats and formulas

This option when checked, will take a guess that the formulae and formats in a list need to be copied down when data is added. This will only happen if the list is contiguous and the formulae/formats are consistent in three of the five cells above the current entry. An example may help.

In the grid below, we have entered data in A1:C5 and entered a simply SUM function in D1:D5. (You can check this in the formula bar). We have formatted D1:D5 only as bold.

If we now enter data in cells A6:C6, the formula =SUM(A6:C6) is automatically entered in D6 and the format automatically made bold. (The formula is only auto-entered when I complete the last entry in C6). (See finished grid below).

Enable automatic percent entry

This option works only on cells formatted as percentage.  It effectively tries to guess what you are trying to enter. With it checked (on a cell formatted as percent), entering .1 will presume you want 10%. The same is true of all numbers entered up to 1. (They are effectively multiplied by 100). Numbers over one are not 'multiplied' by 100 but are simply entered as the number and converted to a percent format, so entering 1 would show as 1%, 100 as 100% and so on. Remember whatever the displayed format, Excel will still be holding the correct value 'behind' the scenes. (1% is 0.01, 10% is 0.1 and 100% is 1). Un-checking simply switches this functionality off and entering percentages below 100% must either be done correctly .1 for 10%, etc or the entry will need to be post fixed with '%'. Values over 100% are still 'multiplied' by 100.

Show Paste Options buttons

Shows a paste option smart tag, as below, which provides options to match formatting of source, destination, link the cells, etc.

Show Insert Options buttons

Applicable to inserting cells, rows and columns and operates similar to above.