1 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 2007

Transcription

1 1 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 2007 The Excel Window With Office 2007, Microsoft has abandoned the interface consisting of a menu and a collection of toolbars so common in all Windows applications until now. Their place has been taken by a ribbon divided into groups of commands located on named tabs. Figure 1.1 shows the Excel 2007 window; for this screen shot, the Excel window was restored down to occupy about half of the monitor screen. Figure 1.1 It is helpful to know the correct name for the various parts of the window. This makes using the Help facility more productive and aids in conversing with other users. It is recommended that you read this chapter while seated at the computer and experiment as you read it. Remember that pressing the E key

2 2 A Guide to Microsoft Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers will back you out of an action you do not wish to pursue. Title bar: This is at the very top and displays the name of the currently opened file together with the phrase Microsoft Excel. To the right are the three controls to minimize, restore, and close the Excel application. Office button: This is the name given to the colorful circle in the top left corner of the window. We can click on this icon to access commands relating to the file (open, close, and print). At the bottom of the Office dialog you will find a command to open a dialog to customize Excel. We will look at this in later chapters. Quick Access Toolbar (QAT): This is the only toolbar in Excel When Excel 2007 is first installed, the QAT holds the commands Save, Undo, and Redo. However, it may be customized to hold others. Furthermore, one can change the location of the QAT from above the ribbon to below the ribbon. Ribbon: The ribbon stretches across the window under the title bar. It holds every command that can be used within Excel In Figure 1.1 the Home tab has been selected, and the ribbon displays groups of commands that are accessed by clicking the appropriate icon. The Home tab holds mainly formatting commands. Use the mouse to open another tab by clicking it. We will see shortly that the ribbon can be minimized when you wish to see more of the document. The tabs shown in Figure 1.1 include Developer and Acrobat. We will learn in a later chapter how to add the Developer tab to the ribbon. The Acrobat tab gets added if you install Adobe Acrobat, which is not part of Microsoft Office products. Additional tabs (contextual tabs) get displayed when you are performing certain operations; so when you are working on a chart, the Chart tab appears. The appearance of a tab will change with the amount of space allocated to the Excel window. Figure 1.2 shows the Home tab when Excel is in full screen mode. Note how items that were arranged vertically in Figure 1.1 are now arranged horizontally.

3 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 3 Figure 1.2 If you let the mouse pointer hover over a command icon, a screen tip will appear giving a brief description of the command s purpose. Icons with solid inverted triangles (disclosure triangle) have associated drop down menus that present further choices. When the diagonal arrow f (the dialog launcher) on a group is clicked, a dialog box opens up. Generally these do not have new commands but present the group s commands in another way. Many dialog boxes have tabs either horizontally at the top or vertically at the left hand side see Figures 1.3 and 1.4. You can navigate from tab to tab with the mouse or with the arrow keys. Figure 1.3

4 4 A Guide to Microsoft Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers Help button: To the right of the tabs on the ribbon you will find the Help button. By default this connects you to the on line help facility at the Microsoft Excel 2007 site. Minimize, Restore, and Close buttons: To the right of the Help button are three tools used to minimize, restore, and close the worksheet. Note that we have one set of these buttons for the Excel application (on the title bar) and another (on the ribbon) for the current document. Figure 1.4 Formula bar and name box: Just under the ribbon is the formula bar with the name box to the left. In Figure 1.1 the name box is displaying F15. You will notice that both the F column heading and the 15 row heading are highlighted and that the cell at the intersection of this column and row is picked out by a border. We call this the active cell, and we say that the name box displays the reference (or address) of the active cell. Later we shall see that when the active cell contains a literal (text or number), the formula bar also displays the same thing, but when the cell holds a formula then the formula bar displays the actual formula while the cell generally displays the result of that formula. Worksheet window: The worksheet window occupies most of the Excel space. In most cases this window displays a simple worksheet, but later we will see how to display two or more concurrently. A workbook may contain worksheets and chart

5 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 5 sheets (collectively called sheets); we will concentrate on worksheets for now. Sheet tabs: Below the worksheet window we have tools to navigate from sheet to sheet and to scroll a sheet horizontally. By default, Excel 2007 opens a new workbook with three worksheets that can be changed in the Options setting. To the right of the last sheet tab is a tool to insert a new worksheet. Let the mouse pointer hover over this tool to discover that the shortcut is S+!. To the right of the sheet tabs is the horizontal scroll tool; the vertical scroll tool is on the right side of the worksheet. Status bar: At the very bottom of the Excel window we have the status bar. To the left is the mode indicator. When you move to a cell this displays Ready; when you start typing it becomes Enter; if you double click a cell (or press the 2 key) it becomes Edit. We will ignore the second tool for now. To the right we have Page View buttons that let us display the worksheet in different ways, and the Zoom tool that enlarges/reduces the display. If we experiment with the Page View buttons, we may notice that the worksheet gets vertical and horizontal dotted lines. These show how much will fit on a printed page. Right clicking the status bar brings up a dialog box that allows you to customize the status bar. Exercise 1: The Ribbon The ribbon can be minimized so as to display about five more rows of a worksheet. Experiment with this as follows: (a) Double click any one of the tabs on the ribbon. Most of the ribbon disappears leaving only the tabs we say it is minimized. (b) Click any one of the tabs once and the ribbon is maximized. It stays maximized until we activate a cell on the worksheet. (c) Double click one of the tabs. The ribbon is permanently restored. (d) Right click anywhere on the ribbon to bring up the shortcut menu. Click the Minimize Ribbon command. (e) Restore the ribbon using the right click method.

6 6 A Guide to Microsoft Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers Exercise 2: Quick Access Toolbar By default the QAT contains three commands: Save, Undo and Redo. We can add and remove commands in a number of ways; we look at one in this exercise. Do not overload the QAT; keeping it small so that all commands are easy to find preserves the intention expressed by Quick in its name. One command that may be handy to have on the QAT is the Quick Print command. This differs from the normal print command in that it is executed without first displaying a dialog box. (a) Click the disclosure triangle to the right of the QAT to bring up the dialog shown in Figure 1.5. (b) Click on the Quick Print item. The dialog closes, and QAT now displays a printer icon. (c) Repeat the steps to add Print Preview to the QAT. Next we will relocate the QAT. Right click on the QAT and in the shortcut menu select the item Show Quick Access Toolbar Below Ribbon. Figure 1.5 (d) We may restore the QAT to its original place in the same way or by using the shortcut menu we opened in step (a). Use either way to get the QAT above the ribbon.

7 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 7 Exercise 3: Working with Shortcuts Some users prefer doing as much as possible from the keyboard rather than the mouse. Excel 2007 provides an extensive set of keyboard shortcuts. A full description of these would take many pages. So let s use the tools that Microsoft has provided an on line tutorial. This Exercise presumes you are connected to the Internet. (a) Click the Help command. In the text box of the Help dialog type shortcuts. Either press the j or click the Search tool. When Excel responds with a list of topics, select Keyboard shortcuts in the 2007 Office system. Take some time running this very helpful tutorial; it will review many of the topics we have covered so far and then tell you all about keyboard shortcuts. (b) When you return to Excel, you need to close the Help dialog by clicking its Close button on the title bar. The Worksheet The worksheet window is the heart of the Excel application. It is here that we enter and work with data. It is helpful to learn some terms. Columns and rows: A worksheet is divided vertically into columns and horizontally into rows. The intersection of a column and row forms a cell. At the top of the worksheet we have the column headers (the letters A, B, C ) and to the left the row headers (the numbers 1,2,3 ). The last column is XFD (there are columns); the last row is numbered ; thus a single sheet has some 17 billion cells. Your computer would need to have a very large amount of memory if you planned to fill every cell. Cell: A cell is the unit on the worksheet; it may be empty or it may hold data. Generally cells are outlined by gridlines. However, it is possible to request Excel not to display gridlines for a particular worksheet. Note that gridlines are not printed unless otherwise specified in Page Layout Sheet Options. Active cell: If you click on a single cell on the worksheet, it is displayed with a solid border. We call this the active cell. The reference (such as A1) of the active cell is displayed in the name box. The correct term for the combination of column letter and row number (as in A1) is reference, but address is acceptable. What is not acceptable is name since this has a very special meaning in Excel. It is possible to configure Excel to use another

8 8 A Guide to Microsoft Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers reference system in which the top left cell is referred to as R1C1 but we shall not be concerned with that method. As noted above, the name box displays the reference of the active cell. Data and Formulas: A cell may contain either data or a formula. Data and formulas are frequently entered by typing in the cell. How do we tell Excel we have completed your entry? There are a number of ways: pressing the Enter j key; pressing one of the arrow keys (b, l, r, t) or the tab key T; or clicking the checkmark ( ) to the left of the formula bar. There is another method clicking on another cell but this is a very poor habit to pick up since the result when entering a formula is generally not what you want! The j key generally takes you down to the cell one below, but we can change this with an option setting to move one to the right. Data and formulas can also be placed in cells by copying (or cutting) them from other cells and then using the Paste command. The source cells can be in the same worksheet or in another worksheet, perhaps in another workbook. Data: The data we entered into the cell can be one of four types. It could be text (such as the word Experiment), a number (123.45), a date (1/1/2008), or a Boolean constant (TRUE or FALSE). Formulas: A formula always begins with an equal sign (=). It may contain only constants and cell references (=2*1.2345, =2*A2). It may also contain one or more functions (=SUM(A1:A10)). A formula normally displays a value in the cell; this can be any one of the data types listed above. So the cell containing the formula may display a value such as , but when it is the active cell the formula bar may display the formula =2*PI(). If the formula fails, it may display (we say it returns) an error value. We start to use formulas in Chapter 2. Formatting: This is the term used to describe changing how the value in a cell is displayed. We may format a cell to alter the font (typeface, size, color) and to add a border or a fill color. By far the most important aspect of this topic relates to numbers. In a newly opened worksheet every cell is formatted in what is called General. If I type into a cell I will see , and the formula =10*PI( ) will display since with the default column width a cell can display up to seven digits. We may widen the cell to display more digits. If I type , Excel will widen the cell, but when more

9 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 9 digits are used, as in , Excel displays it in scientific notation as E+11 (meaning ). Had the column been formatted to a narrow width beforehand, the result would show with fewer digits. We will see later that we may change the format of a number (for example, have =PI() display as 3.1). What is important to remember is that changing the format does not alter the actual stored value. We examine this in a later exercise, but it is good to learn early that there are stored values and displayed values. Range: A range is a group of contiguous cells (see Figure 1.6). Note that technically a single cell is also a range: it is a range consisting of just one cell. Figure 1.6 Excel 2007 Specifications It is important to remember that Microsoft releases updates to all applications on a regular basis. Use the automatic update feature to stay current. Excel Specifications: At some time you may need to know the answer to questions such as: What is the biggest number Excel can store? The information to answer this type of question is readily obtained from Help. Click the Help button and in the box type the word specifications (or just specs) and click the Search command. From the list of found topics select Excel Specifications and Limits. A screen shot showing part of the answer is shown in Figure 1.7. Excel 2007 File Format: With Office 2007, Microsoft started using the Office Open XML format. This is not the place to delve into the technical aspects of this format. However, the reader should be aware that Office 2007 files are actually composed of a number of several XLM parts that are bundled into a zip compressed file. This results in significant storage savings.

10 10 A Guide to Microsoft Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers Figure 1.7 Excel 2007 files have one of these extensions: XLSX, XLSM, XLTX, XLTM, and XLAM. Until we begin to use VBA, all or our files will be saved as XLSX files. The letter M in a file extension denotes that it contains a macro, while T stands for template and A for add in. We find out more as we progress through the book. We shall not be concerned with the binary format XLSB. The Microsoft website is the best source of information for the interested reader; search with the term Excel file formats. One caveat: Some users have found that if they download an Office 2007 file (e.g., Book1.xlsx) from a website the download software mistakenly renames it Book1.ZIP, having detected its zip compression attributes. All that is needed is to rename it back to the original extension before opening it with the Office 2007 application. Compatibility with Earlier Excel Versions: There were various Excel file formats before Office However, Excel 97, 2000, 2002 (part of Office XP) and 2003 all had the same format and used the extension XLS for simple workbook files. While Excel 2007 can open files saved in the format of earlier versions, the converse is not true. When you open an XLS file in Excel 2007, the title bar will display the phrase Compatibility Mode and, unless you specify otherwise, the file will be save by Excel 2007 in the old XLS format.

11 Welcome to Microsoft Excel 11 To share newly created Excel 2007 files with users of say Excel 2003, you should save it in the XLS format; click the Office button, use the Save As command, and look for the Excel Worksheet. Should the workbook contain a feature not supported by Excel (for example, one of the functions new to Excel 2007), you will be given a warning. Also on the Office dialog under the Prepare tab there is a Compatibility tool that checks the workbook for Excel 2007 specific features that are not compatible with earlier versions. It is also possible for the other users to install the Microsoft compatibility utility that automatically converts Office 2007 files to the Office format. Search the Microsoft site using the term office 2007 compatibility. Problems If you are in a hurry, keep going to Chapter 2. If you like puzzle solving, try these problems. We will be covering the topics in subsequent chapters, but you may enjoy the challenge. 1. Type your name in any cell. Make it bold and italic. Find the commands to remove bold and italic. Hint: In the Home, look for an icon resembling an eraser. 2. In cell D1 enter this =TODAY( ) and press the j key. It should show the current date. Maybe it displays something like 15/3/2009; can you change it to 15 March 2009? 3. Copy the cell with your name. Paste it in another cell. Copy the cell with the date. Note the ant track running around the cell you copied. If you double click an empty cell, the track disappears and you can no longer paste. You have been using the Windows clipboard. Now click the Clipboard launcher on the Home tab (far left). This opens the Office Clipboard, which can hold more than one item. Experiment with it. 4. In A5 type the formula =22/7 and press j. This gives an approximate value for π. Can you discover how to make this display with eight decimal places? 5. Type some numbers in the cells D1 to D5 later we will give this instruction as put numbers in D1:D5. Click D6 or, in technical terms, make D6 the active cell. Look for the G icon (it is in Home Editing ). Click it to see what happens.