1 of 1 NOTE: IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ THE ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENT CALLED INTRO TO EXCEL LAYOUT 2007 TO FULLY GRASP THE BASICS OF EXCEL Introduction A spreadsheet application allows you to enter data that can be manipulated. Numerical data like grades, budget information, or statistics can be calculated with relative ease. Charts and graphs can be automatically generated. This help document will help you learn how to perform some basic tasks within the new Excel. To get an in-depth overview of the new layout refer to the help document on this topic. Moving Around the Spreadsheet You can use of the following methods to move from Cell to Cell Use the mouse to click on the cell you want Use the arrow keys (on the keyboard) to move one cell up, down, left or right (Crtl + arrow moves to the end) Type the address of the cell you wish to go to in the cell address box The Tab key moves you one cell to the right (Shift + Tab to the left) and Enter will move you down one cell (Shift + Enter will move you up) To move within the worksheet use of the following methods: Use the Scroll Bars as you would in any Windows program Use the Page Up and Page Down buttons to move the screen vertically up or down Press the Crtl + Home to bring you back to cell A1, Crtl + End will take you to the end of your worksheet Data in a Spreadsheet Each cell may contain one or more of the following: Value (number that can be used in a calculation) Label (text) Formula (manipulates values; begins with either: = + - / @ #) Entering Data in a Cell: Select the cell (click on the cell or use the arrow keys to move to the cell) Enter the data you want in that cell Note: There is no limit on how much you can put into a cell, although it will carry over on top of the adjacent cells. When this happens you should change the cell width (covered soon.)
2 of 2 Editing Data Already Entered: Select the cell you want to change (using your mouse or arrow keys) and type in the new data (this replaces the data that was previously entered into the cell) OR Select the cell you want to change and click on the Formula Bar (the white bar just above the spreadsheet document). In the formula bar you can edit the text as in a word processor (using the delete and backspace keys). When you have finished press Enter or click on the green check mark Entering Values or Formulae as Labels: If you want to type something into a cell which is a label, but it begins with a number or a mathematical symbol such as = + - / @ # (e.g 10 Downing Street), you will have to instruct Excel that it is a label by typing a single quote before the text e.g. Excel automatically converts the term 4/10 into a date (April 10) so if you want a label of 4/10 you must enter a single quote before the 4, 4/10 Basic Formulae An Excel formula must begin with one of the following characters: = + - / @. # Excel follows the basic rule for order of operations (Brackets, Exponents, Division/Multiplication, Addition/Subtraction) The most commonly used operators are: + add e.g =B4 + 3 adds the value of B4 and 3 - subtract e.g =B4 C4 subtracts the contents of cell B4 and C4 * multiply e.g =B3*A4 multiplies the contents of cell B3 and A4 / divide e.g =E6/F7 divides the contents of cell E6 into F7 = formula e.g =Sum(B4:E4) sums the contents of cells B4 through E4 (This produces the same result as +B4+C4+D4+E4 but is often preferred because it is shorter and the result changes if you insert or delete cells in this range) Note: The result of a formula appears in the cell you are working in and in the normal printout. The actual formula shows in the formula bar. Absolute References $ prevents a cell reference from adjusting to its new location when you copy or move a formula. This is known as an absolute reference. $A$1 (locks cell A1), $A1 (locks column A but not the row), A$1 (locks row 1 but not the column). Filling Formulas into Adjacent Cells The fill option is a shortcut Excel gives you when you need the same formula all the way down a column or row. If you use the fill option Excel will copy the formula into other rows/columns and make the necessary cell reference changes. For example, you add A1 + A2
3 of 3 and put the result in cell A3. When you use the fill option to copy the formula from A3 into B3, the formula will change to B1 + B2. To use the fill option: Type your formula in the desired cell Click on the check mark located on the Formula Bar, or hit enter Make sure you have the cell with the formula selected Place your insertion point on the bottom right corner of the cell your mouse pointer should look like a thin black cross Click and drag either down, up or to the right or left (wherever you want to copy the formula) Release the mouse button The formula should now be copied, and the cell references should have changed accordingly If you do not want a cell reference to change, make it absolute by using the $ Appearance of the Spreadsheet Before you ask the computer to make any formatting changes you must first specify which cells you wish the changes to affect (select cells!) Selecting Cells Hold down and click the left mouse button and drag over the desired cells (your mouse pointer should look like this when selecting: ) OR Click on the row (column) heading number (letter) to choose an entire column or row OR Hold down the Shift key and use the arrow keys to highlight the selection OR Select the grey rectangle on the upper left corner of the worksheet (where the row heading and column headings meet) this will select the entire workbook Formatting Cells Select the rows, columns or cells you want to format (set the way the contents will be displayed) Under the Home tab you are given many different options to format the cells o Font: Here you can change the font, its size and attributes (colour, effects, etc) o Alignment: This lets you change how the text is aligned within a cell both horizontally and vertically. Also gives you text control options such as Wrapping Text o Number: This lets you decide how many decimal places to include, whether negative numbers should appear in red, whether dollar and percentage signs should be included, etc.
4 of 4 Changing the Cell Size For columns, place your mouse on the column-heading bar directly between two column headings. You will notice that your pointer will look like a vertical line with arrows jutting out of either side Click and hold your left mouse button Drag your mouse either left or right to the desired column size and release the mouse button The method is basically the same for changing row heights (place mouse on row-heading directly in between two row headings) OR Double clicking on the line separating two columns in the column heading area will automatically adjust the column width to the size of the LARGEST item in the column (this works the same for row height Cut/Copy/Paste First select the cell(s) you wish to cut, copy or paste To Cut: (which will remove the data from the cells in the spreadsheet) choose the symbol from the Clipboard Area in the Home tab or use the command Crtl + X To Copy: (which will leave the original contents in the cells, but still make a copy of it) choose the symbol from the Clipboard Area in the Home tab or use the command Crtl + C To Paste: If you want to paste cells that have been cut or copied click on a cell that you want the data to be copied into and from the Clipboard Area in the Home tab find the symbol or use the command Crtl + P Note: Pasting will overwrite any information already in a cell or group of cells To Drag Cells from one Location to Another: Select the cells you want to move Place your cursor along the outside edge of those cells until your cursor becomes the move symbol Drag to the location you want Undo Option If you make a mistake you can undo it by choosing the symbol in the Quick Access Toolbar to undo the last operation you performed. You can also undo an action by using the command Crtl + Z Worksheets Excel allows you to have multiple worksheets within each Excel workbook. You can use this to your advantage by storing all your class grades in one workbook, with each class on a separate sheet. You will notice that at the bottom of your workbook you will have tabs labeled Sheet1, Sheet2, etc. A worksheet name can be changed by right clicking on the sheet name and then selecting rename
5 of 5 Printing Files Select the area to print (this is a good idea even though you can print you can print out the entire worksheet, this ensures that you won t be spitting out zillions of blank pages from your printer) Select print from the Office Button and click Print