Inline editing can be extremely helpful for editing records without ever having to open them. We have a helpful article on using Inline Editing within List Views. But you may not be set up to use inline editing yet. Here's how to enable inline editing.
1. Go to Setup.
2. Search for and click on "User Interface" in the left Setup pane.
Setup > App Setup > Customize > User Interface.
3. Make sure that 'Inline Editing' and 'Enable Enhanced Lists' are checked, then click 'Save'. That's it!