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Part 1. Getting Started

To learn any new application, it's a good idea to have some basic knowledge of how to start the application, what appears onscreen, how to ask for help, and how to find files in the application. If you are new to Excel, go through this part so that you get a good understanding of these basic skills. If you have used Excel before, you might want to skim through this part to see what's new.

A worksheet is a grid of columns and rows. The intersection of any column and row is called a cell. Each cell in a worksheet has a unique cell reference, the designation formed by combining the row and column headings. For example, A8 refers to the cell at the intersection of column A and row 8.

The cell pointer is a white, cross-shaped pointer that appears over cells in the worksheet. You use the cell pointer to select any cell in the worksheet. The selected cell is called the active cell. You always have at least one cell selected at all times.

A range is a specified group of cells. A range can be a column, a row, or any combination of cells, columns, and rows. Range coordinates identify a range. The first element in a range coordinate is the location of the upper-left cell in the range; the second element is the location of the lower-right cell. A colon (:) separates these two elements. The range A1:C3, for example, includes the cells A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, and C3.

Excel Workbook Desktop

Starting Excel

Click the Start button.

Click All Programs and locate the Microsoft Office submenu. If you see Microsoft Office Excel 2003 in the main Start menu, you can click it here instead.

Click Microsoft Office Excel 2003 in the Microsoft Office submenu.

The Excel window opens with a blank "worksheet."

INTRODUCTION

You start the Excel application the same way you do most other applications in Windows XP: using the Start menu. If you've recently used Excel, the application command might be visible on the first pane of the Start menu as well as in its normal location, in the All Programs submenu.

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Using desktop shortcuts

Depending on your setup, you might have a shortcut icon for Excel on your Windows desktop. If you do, you can double-click it to start the program.

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Starting Excel by opening a file

Another way to start Excel is to double-click on an existing Excel file—for example, in your My Documents window. Windows will automatically start the application and open the file you double-clicked.

Understanding Workbooks and Worksheets

Click the scroll bar arrows that correspond to going left and right or up and down. The scroll bars allow you to scroll through additional rows and columns.

Review the document window controls, which allow you to alter the viewable size of the workbook. Click the Minimize button to shrink the workbook to only the name of the file.

Review the program window controls, which allow you to alter the viewable size of Excel. Click the Minimize button to shrink Excel to a button on the taskbar.

Review the tabs at the bottom of the workbook (Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3). You can click on these tabs to move between the worksheets within the workbook.

INTRODUCTION

By default, Excel workbooks contain three worksheets. In time, you'll learn to add more worksheets, rename them, delete them, color-code them, and much more. In this task, however, you'll focus on learning how to move around in workbooks and worksheets.

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Resizing the window

Click the Restore Down button on Excel's document window controls and then click on the window border and drag it to resize Excel to whatever viewable size you like. To go back to full size, simply click the Maximize button.

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Worksheet tab buttons

Each worksheet is named Sheet1, Sheet2, or Sheet3, by default. Another way to move through a workbook's worksheets is to click the next right or next left arrow buttons.

Understanding Rows, Columns, and Cells

The letters along the top of the worksheet columns (A, B, C, and so on) are the column headers. Click on any one of these column headers to select an entire column.

The numbers along the left side of the worksheet rows (1, 2, 3, and so on) are the row headers. Click on any one of these row headers to select an entire row.

Click in the worksheet to select a cell. The active cell is B3 because it is where column B and row 3 intersect.

Click a different cell in the worksheet (in this case, C13). Notice that the active cell changes, as does the cell reference in the Name box.

INTRODUCTION

An Excel worksheet is made up of many cells. These cells are where you will place information you want to save, whether it be text, numbers, or some type of graphic. Each cell has a location name (indicated in the Name box) so that you can easily find a specific cell. When you have clicked a specific cell or have used the keyboard arrow keys to move the cursor to a specific cell, that cell will be surrounded with a dark black box, and is known as the active cell.

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Cell versus cell

No two cells have the same cell name, even if they are in two different worksheets in the same workbook. For example, Excel references cell B3 on Sheet1 as Sheet1!B3 and cell B3 on Sheet2 as Sheet2!B3. If they are the same cell name, sheet name, but different workbooks, the reference would be [filename.xls]Sheet1!B3.

Entering Data

Click the cell to which you want to add data (for example, B3), making it the active cell.

Type some data (in this example, January) in the cell. As you type, the data also appears in the Edit bar because you are in Edit mode.

When you finish typing, press Enter. Excel makes the cell immediately below it (the one you typed in) the active cell.

Type some data into a few different cells and press the arrow keys to move to the next cell (for example, enter some row headers and column headers).

INTRODUCTION

Data is the technical term for the text and numbers you enter into an Excel worksheet. Data in each cell can contain text, numbers, or any combination of both; it can even be a graphic or some other type of object that you insert into the worksheet. You can enter data into a blank worksheet or add data to an existing worksheet.

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Correcting Data

If you made a mistake when typing data into a cell, you can press the Backspace key to delete your entry and then simply type the correct data.

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Editing Data

If you pressed Enter to accept a data entry, but that entry is incorrect, click the cell with the incorrect data to make it active and type the correct data over the old data. Turn to "Editing Data" in Part 3 for more information about editing your data.

Entering Repeat Cell Text

Type four different names into cells B3–B6 (for example, Julie, Nancy, Sid, and Jasmel) and press Enter to move to the next blank cell in the same column (B7).

In cell B7, type the first letter of one of the names—for example, S. The name Sid fills the cell. Press either the Enter or the down arrow key to enter the name.

In cell B8, type the first letter of another name—for example, J. Notice that no name automatically fills the cell because the inferred name could be either Julie or Jasmel.

Type the second letter of the name—for example, u. The name Julie appears. Press either the Enter or the down arrow key to enter the name into the cell.

INTRODUCTION

There will be times when you find that you are entering the same exact text-based data in multiple cells in the same row or column. To save you time, Excel tries to "infer" the data you want to enter (only for text entries, not numbers). For example, if you are creating a worksheet for different people filling specific jobs, instead of typing each person's name over and over again, you can simply type the first letter (or first few letters, if more than one name begins with the same first letter) and press Enter.

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Overriding Excel's entry

Suppose cell B3 contains the text paper clips, cell B4 contains pencils, and you want to type paper in cell B5. When you do, Excel will automatically enter paper clips in the cell. To ensure the cell holds only the data you want, simply continue to type the word paper and press the Delete key on the keyboard when you finish. The rest of the text will disappear; press the Enter key to move on to your next cell entry.

Selecting Cells

Click the cell you want to make active (for example, B3). A thick black border around the cell indicates it is the active cell.

Click on another cell (for example, B8) to select it as the active cell. Notice that there is no longer a border around cell B3.

Press the Ctrl key on the keyboard while again clicking cell B3. The active cell is B3, but cell B8 now has a light blue background; this indicates that both cells are selected.

INTRODUCTION

When you want to select an individual cell, you just click it. But, what if you want to select cells that aren't next to each other (that is, a noncontiguous range)? An example of this would be if you want to highlight the data in cells B6, F7, and E12 all at the same time, not one after the other.

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Unselecting cells in a range

If you click a cell that you didn't want in the selection, your only option is to release the Ctrl key and click somewhere in the worksheet to clear the noncontiguous range. Then, start selecting the cells again more carefully.

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Selecting the whole worksheet

You can select an entire worksheet by pressing Ctrl+A. This is convenient when you want to format all the cells in a worksheet the same way—for example, making everything bold, blue, and 16-point font.

Selecting a Range of Cells

Click on the cell that you want to be the first cell in a range of cells (for example, B2).

Press and hold down the left mouse button as you drag the pointer to the last cell you want to include in the range (for example, E5).

When the range is selected, release the mouse button.

INTRODUCTION

There will be times when you want to select multiple cells that are adjacent to each other (known as a range). You will use this feature frequently when you are formatting your data and want to format multiple cells in the same manner.

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Range references

A range of cells is indicated with a range reference. This includes the upper-leftmost cell in the selection, a colon, and the lower-rightmost cell in the selection. For example, the range reference for cells B2 through E5 would be B2:E5.

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Using Shift

Another way to select a range of cells is to click on a cell, press the Shift key, and then click on the cell at the other end of the desired range. All cells between the two clicked-on cells will be selected.

Automatically Filling a Series of Data

Type the data for the first few cells in the series you want to fill. For example, type Region 1, Region 2, and Region 3 into cells B2, C2, and D2, respectively.

Select cells B2, C2, and D2 (B2:D2), and move the mouse pointer over the lower-right corner of the range until the pointer changes to a thin, black plus sign.

Press and hold down the mouse button and drag horizontally or vertically until all the cells you want to fill are selected.

Release the mouse button when you have filled the correct number of series data.

INTRODUCTION

If you have ever typed each and every cell of a series of data into a worksheet (for example, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on), the information in this task will save you a lot of time. In a couple of quick steps, Excel completes all the time-consuming data-entry work for you. Be sure to check Excel's work.

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Using intuitive series

Excel will automatically fill and repeat common series like days of the week, month names, and so on. To experiment, type January in a cell, and then click and drag to select the number cells you want to fill.

Working with Menus

Click the File menu and review the commands available to you.

Move the mouse pointer down the File menu to the Print Area command. (Notice the small black arrow next to the command; this denotes the presence of a submenu.)

To execute a command in the submenu, move the mouse pointer to the command you want (in this example, Set Print Area) and press the left mouse button.

INTRODUCTION

The menu bar, just below the title bar, contains nine menus: File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Data, Windows, and Help. You select commands on each menu to perform operations, such as saving a workbook, formatting data, printing a worksheet, checking spelling, and inserting charts.

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Using your keyboard to issue commands

If you want to use your keyboard instead of your mouse to issue a menu command, press the Alt key, and then press the letter that's underlined in the menu name. For example, press Alt+F to view the File menu. Once the menu is displayed, press the underlined letter in the command you want to perform.

Using Shortcut Menus (the Right Mouse Button)

Right-click a cell to see the shortcut menu.

Right-click a column header to see a different shortcut menu. Notice that this shortcut menu contains slightly different command options.

Click a command, such as Insert, on the shortcut menu. The action is performed, and the shortcut menu disappears.

INTRODUCTION

When you right-click an item in your workspace, a shortcut menu (also known as a pop-up or context menu) appears. The commands in a shortcut menu vary, depending on your selection; that is, shortcut menus include the commands used most often for whatever object is selected—text, cells, charts, graphics, and so on. If you open a shortcut menu that doesn't contain the command you want to use, exit the menu by pressing Esc or clicking elsewhere on the desktop.

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Using traditional menus

The commands available on shortcut menus are also available on traditional menus (refer to the previous task, "Working with Menus," for more information). For example, instead of using the shortcut menu to insert a column, as you did in this task, you could open the Insert menu and choose the Columns command.

Working with Toolbars

Move the mouse pointer over each of the buttons on the Standard toolbar, pausing momentarily over each button to see a descriptive ScreenTip.

Move the mouse pointer over each of the buttons on the Formatting toolbar, again, pausing for a second over each button to see the descriptive ScreenTip.

Click on a button to perform the corresponding action. For example, click the down arrow next to the Borders button to choose from the border options.

INTRODUCTION

Excel provides two default toolbars, Standard and Formatting, that display the most commonly used commands as buttons. Some buttons feature a downward-pointing arrow (called a drop-down menu), which allows you to choose from multiple options for the same command. If multiple toolbars share the same row, one or more of the toolbars might feature a double-right arrow at its right-most end; click it to view any buttons that don't fit on the line. To move a toolbar to another location, move the mouse pointer over the left-most side of the toolbar; when the pointer changes to a four-pointed arrow, click and drag the toolbar to its new home.

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ScreenTips

To display ScreenTips, open the Tools menu and choose Options; select the Show ScreenTips on Toolbars option, and click Close. When your mouse pointer hovers over a toolbar button, the Screentip will display.

Personalizing Menus and Toolbars

Open the Tools menu and choose Customize to open the Customize dialog box.

Click the Options tab.

Check or uncheck the options in the Personalized Menus and Toolbars area as desired, as well as the options in the Other area.

Click the Close button.

INTRODUCTION

By default, Excel's menus are adaptive, which means they initially display only those commands that relate to what the program "thinks" you are trying to do in your worksheet. After a short delay, the full menu appears. To change this, and to specify whether the Standard and Formatting toolbars should be displayed all on the same row or on two separate rows, use the Customize dialog box.

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Dialog box options

The settings in the Options tab's area are as follows: choose Large icons to view toolbar buttons at about four times their regular size; choose List font names in their font to configure the Font drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar to display font names in their own font; and choose Show ScreenTips on toolbars to configure Excel to display the name of a toolbar button when your mouse pointer hovers over it.

Using the Task Pane

If the task pane isn't already visible, open the View menu and choose Task Pane to display it.

To open a new file, click the Create a New Workbook link in the task pane. You can also use the links in this area to access an online template from Microsoft.com.

INTRODUCTION

If you recently installed Excel, the task pane might be displayed when you start the application. The task pane simply offers additional ways to quickly perform common tasks in Excel, get help, find files, and much more. As you work in Excel, additional task panes become active depending on what tasks you are performing.

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Resizing the task pane

If you find yourself frequently using the task pane and want constant access to it, you can slightly decrease its size so that it doesn't take up as much of your workbook area. Simply move the mouse pointer over the left-most edge of the task pane; when the pointer changes to a two-pointed arrow, click and drag the edge of the pane to the left (bigger) or to the right (smaller).

Click on the down arrow at the top of the task pane to view the other task panes available to you.

Click the Task pane's Close button, located at the top of the pane, to close it.

Getting Help

Type a question in the Type a question for help field. For example, in Excel, type how do I repeat similar items?.

When you press Enter, the Search Results task pane opens, displaying a list of possible answers from Microsoft.com. Click the link that seems like the best match.

Read the information in the Help Window. Click additional links in the Search Results Task pane until your question is answered. Click Close (x) when finished.

INTRODUCTION

Microsoft makes it easy for you to get help in Excel—even if you don't know exactly what type of help you need. In addition to typing a question into the Type a question for help field in the Excel window, you can also use the Help task pane to find other Help resources to get on track.

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Helping yourself

If none of the search results adequately answer your question, scroll to the bottom of the Search Results pane and click the Tips for better search results link for tips on conducting more effective searches.

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Trying again

If the link you clicked in the Search Results pane doesn't answer your question, click the pane's Back button (similar to the Back button in a Web browser), and then type a new question or visit other help areas and try again.

To use the Help task pane to get help, click the down arrow at the top of the Search Results task pane and select Help from the list that appears.

In the Search field, type a key term relating to the task you need help with; then press Enter or click the green arrow.

Click the Search Results task pane's Close button (x), located at the top of the pane, to close it.

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Using Microsoft.com

In the Microsoft Excel Help task pane, you can click links to go directly to specific Web sites that offer assistance and training. In addition, you can download new information and software fixes at Office Update. Finally, the Help task pane's Spotlight area provides direct access to Microsoft.com, where you can get the latest news about using Microsoft Excel.

Finding Files

Open the File menu and choose File Search to open the Basic File Search task pane.

Type all or part of the name of the file you are searching for (in this case, Region).

Click the down arrow next to the Search in field, and then click on the plus sign (+) next to My Computer to display a list of your computer's contents.

Click the check box next to the folders and drives you want to search, and uncheck any you want to bypass. When you're ready, click the down arrow to exit the list.

INTRODUCTION

The more files you create and save in Excel, the harder it can be to locate them all. Fortunately, if you haven't kept all your files organized in folders according to project, date, or task, Excel can help you find your files.

Click the down arrow next to the Results should be field. Click on the checked boxes in the list to uncheck all options except Excel Files; then click the down arrow to exit the list.

Click the Go button to initiate the search.

Double-click on the file once it is found to open it and begin working.

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No matches found?

If your search yields no matches, you might need to modify your search criteria and perform these steps again. To do so, click the Modify button at the bottom of the task pane.

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Using advanced file search options

If you've followed the steps in this task but still haven't found your file, use Excel's advanced file search options. To do so, click the Advanced File Search link at the bottom of the Basic File Search task pane. In the Property list box, select the criteria you want to look for; for example, File name or the Creation date. Then, in the Value box, type any information that you know about the file. Click the Add button to include the condition you've specified, and then click Go to locate the file (or files) that contains your criteria.