Your correct in using a StringGrid.

to access the data in a stringgrid, you need to treat it as a 2d array, for instance:

stringgrid1.Cells[1,1]:='Some String';

or

MyString:=stringgrid1.Cells[1,1];

If you want to be able to type directly into the cells (at run time), then you need to change a property in the object inspector, for the string grid. Set "goEditing" to true (within the options property). This will make the string grid more like Excel.

Hope this helps.