Excel 2013 Beyond TheBasics INSTRUCTOR: IGNACIO DURAN
Excel 2013 Beyond The Basics This is a class for beginning computer users. You are only expected to know how to use the mouse and keyboard, open a program, and turn the computer on and off. You should also be familiar with the Microsoft Windows operating system. Over the next two courses, we will be going over the basics of using Microsoft Excel. We will be using PC desktop computers running the Windows operating system. Microsoft Excel is part of the suite of programs called Microsoft Office, which also includes Word, PowerPoint, and more. Level two offers a more extensive look into the world of the Excel spreadsheet. More time is given to making and customizing graphs, working with more complex functions, and manipulating data to achieve your goals. You will learn how to sort and filter data, conditionally format data, and explore the ins and outs of Microsoft Excel 2013. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns before the class, or as we go along.
So What Is Excel? Microsoft Excel is an example of a program called a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are used to organize real world data, such as a check register or a rolodex. Data can be numerical or alphanumeric (involving letters or numbers). The key benefit to using a spreadsheet program is that you can make changes easily, including correcting spelling or values, adding, deleting, formatting, and relocating data. You can also program the spreadsheet to perform certain functions automatically (such as addition and subtraction), and a spreadsheet can hold almost limitless amounts of data. A whole filing cabinet s worth of information can be included in a single spreadsheet. Once you create a spreadsheet, you can effortlessly print it (as many copies as you want!), save it for later modifications, or send it to a colleague via e-mail. Microsoft Excel is a very powerful calculator.
Opening Excel Locate the Excel icon on the desktop with your mouse and double-click it with the left mouse button. If you don t see the Excel icon on your desktop, you ll have to access the program from the Start Menu. Click on the button in the bottom left corner to pull up the Start Menu. You may see the Excel icon here, so click on it once with your left button. If you still don t see it, click on All Programs and scroll through the list of programs until you find it. It may also be located in a folder called Microsoft Office or something similar it will depend on your specific machine. Click once with your left button to open the program.
FUN FACT: Last Column (Control + Right) Last Row (Control + Dow)
Cells Cells are the small rectangular boxes that make up the spreadsheet. The boxes are the intersection of columns (A, B, C, etc.) and rows (1, 2, 3, etc.). To reference a cell, use the column the row name. For example, the cell in the first column and first row is called A1. All the information entered into an Excel spreadsheet is entered into cells. Click on a cell to begin typing in it. It is that easy! When you are finished typing in the cell, press the Enter key and you will be taken to the next cell down. You can then begin typing in that cell. You can easily navigate around the cells using your arrow keys. Keep in mind that the Formatting toolbar in Microsoft Excel 2013 is exactly the same as the one used for Microsoft Word 2013. The biggest difference between the two programs is that, in Excel, the format is set for each individual cell. So if you change the font and applied the bold option in cell C5, then this format will only be applied to cell C5. All remaining cells will remain in default mode until they have been changed. Sometimes you may only wish to adjust the format of one particular cell. In this case, simply select the cell by clicking the mouse on it and make any necessary adjustments to the font, size, style, and alignment. Those changes will not carry over when you begin typing in a new cell.
Rows & Columns
Formatting Cells
Inserting Rows & Columns
The Ribbon Menu System
The Home Tab
The Formula Bar
Keyboard Review
Pointer Shapes
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Move The Quick Access Tool The Quick Access Toolbar can be located in one of two places: Upper-left corner next to the icon for Microsoft Office or below the ribbon.
Customize The Ribbon Don t settle for out-of-the box setup. The 2013 version allows you to personalize Excel to fit your work style and needs. You can customize the Ribbon by creating your own tabs with whichever commands you want. Commands are always housed within a group, and you can create as many groups as you want in order to keep your tab organized. If you want, you can even add commands to any of the default tabs, as long as you create a custom group in the tab. 1.Right-click the Ribbon and select Customize the Ribbon... from the drop-down menu.
Fill Handle There may be times when you need to copy the content of one cell to several other cells in your worksheet. You could copy and paste the content into each cell, but this method would be time consuming. Instead, you can use the fill handle to quickly copy and paste content to adjacent cells in the same row or column. Select the cell(s) containing the content you want to use. The fill handle will appear as a small square in the bottom-right corner of the selected cell(s).
Fill Handle: Continue A Series The fill handle can also be used to continue a series. Whenever the content of a row or column follows a sequential order, like numbers (1, 2, 3) or days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), the fill handle can guess what should come next in the series. In many cases, you may need to select multiple cells before using the fill handle to help Excel determine the series order. In our example below, the fill handle is used to extend a series of dates in a column. OTHER EXAMPLES: 1960, 1970, 1980 A001, A002, A0003
Flash Fill A new feature in Excel 2013, Flash Fill can enter data automatically into your worksheet, saving you time and effort. Just like the fill handle, Flash Fill can guess what type of information you're entering into your worksheet. In the example below, we'll use Flash Fill to create a list of first names using a list of existing email addresses. 1. Enter the desired information into your worksheet. A Flash Fill preview will appear below the selected cell whenever Flash Fill is available. 2. Press Enter. The Flash Fill data will be added to the worksheet. To modify or undo Flash Fill, click the Flash Fill button next to recently added Flash Fill data.
Find and Replace When working with a lot of data in Excel, it can be difficult and time consuming to locate specific information. You can easily search your workbook using the Find feature, which also allows you to modify content using the Replace feature.. From the Home tab, click the Find and Select command, then select Find... from the drop-down menu. Enter the content you want to find. In our example, we'll type the employee's name.
Find and Replace Type the text you want to replace it with in the Replace with: field, then click Find Next. If you want to replace it, select one of the replace options: Replace will replace individual instances. Replace All will replace every instance of the text throughout the workbook. In our example, we'll choose this option to save time.
Text To Columns To separate the contents of one Excel cell into separate columns, you can use the 'Convert Text to Columns Wizard'. For example, when you want to separate a list of full names into last and first names.
Remove Duplicates Working with bunch of data sometimes may bothering you. Using Microsoft Office Excel 2013 can help you to deal with it by just clicking mouse and enjoy time organizing your data. One of the most problematic chores regarding work with big data sets are duplicate values.
Modify Column Width By default, every row and column of a new workbook is set to the same height and width. Excel allows you to modify column width and row height in different ways, including wrapping text and merging cells. To modify column width: In our example below, some of the content in column A cannot be displayed. We can make all of this content visible by changing the width of column A. 1. Position the mouse over the column line in the column heading so the white cross becomes a double arrow. If you see pound signs (#######) in a cell, it means the column is not wide enough to display the cell content. Simply increase the column width to show the cell content.
AutoFit Column Width The AutoFit feature will allow you to set a column's width to fit its content automatically. If you see pound signs (#######) in a cell, it means the column is not wide enough to display the cell content. Simply increase the column width to show the cell content.
Hide and Unhide A Row Or Column At times, you may want to compare certain rows or columns without changing the organization of your worksheet. Excel allows you to hide rows and columns as needed. In our example, we'll hide columns C and D to make it easier to compare columns A, B, and E. Select the column(s) you want to hide, right-click the mouse, then select Hide from the formatting menu
Wrapping Text Whenever you have too much cell content to be displayed in a single cell, you may decide to wrap the text or merge the cell rather than resize a column. Wrapping the text will automatically modify a cell's row height, allowing cell contents to be displayed on multiple lines. Merging allows you to combine a cell with adjacent empty cells to create one large cell. 1. Select the cells you want to wrap. In this example, we'll select the cells in column D. 2. Select the Wrap Text command on the Home tab. Click the Wrap Text command again to unwrap the text.
Add A Border Cell borders and fill colors allow you to create clear and defined boundaries for different sections of your worksheet. Below, we'll add cell borders and fill color to our header cells to help distinguish them from the rest of the worksheet. Click the Wrap Text command again to unwrap the text.
Pin A Workbook If you frequently work with the same workbook, you can pin it to Backstage view for faster access.
Pin A Folder You can also pin folders to Backstage view for faster access. From Backstage view, click Open, then locate the folder you want to pin and click the pushpin icon.
One Click To Select All You might know how to select all by using the Ctrl + A shortcut, but few know that with only one click of the corner button, as shown in the screenshot below, all data will be selected in seconds.
Freezing Rows & Columns You may want to see certain rows or columns all the time in your worksheet, especially header cells. By freezing rows or columns in place, you'll be able to scroll through your content while continuing to view the frozen cells.
Filter Data In our example, we'll apply a filter to an equipment log worksheet to display only the laptops and projectors that are available for checkout.
Open Excel In Bulk Rather than open files one by one when you have multiple files you need to handle, there is a handy way to open them all with one click. Select the files you would like to open then press the Enter key on the keyboard, all files will open simultaneously.
Shift Between Different Excel Files When you have different spreadsheets open, it s really annoying shifting between different files because sometimes working on the wrong sheet can ruin the whole project. Using Ctrl + Tab you can shift between different files freely. This function is also applicable to other files like different Windows tabs in Firefox when opened using Windows 7.
Create A New Shortcut Menu Generally there are three shortcuts in the top menu, which are Save, Undo Typing and Repeat Typing. However, if you want to use more shortcuts, like Copy and Cut, you can set them up as follows: File->Options->Quick Access Toolbar, add Cut and Copy from the left column to the right, save it. You will see two more shortcuts added in the top menu.
Add A Diagonal Line To A Cell When creating a classmate address list, for example, you may need a diagonal link in the first cell to separate different attributes of rows and columns. How to make it? Everyone knows that Home->Font-> Borders can change different borders for a cell, and even add different colors. However, if you click More Borders, you will get more surprises, like a diagonal line. Click it and save you can now make it immediately.
Add More Than One New Row Or Column You may know the way to add one new row or column, but it really wastes a lot of time if you need to insert more than one of these by repeating this action X number of times. The best way is to drag and select X rows or columns (X is two or more) if you want to add X rows or columns above or left. Right click the highlighted rows or columns and choose Insert from the drop down menu. New rows will be inserted above the row or to the left of the column you first selected.
Speedily Move and Copy Data In Cells If you want to move one column of data in a spreadsheet, the fast way is to choose it and move the pointer to the border, after it turns to a crossed arrow icon, drag to move the column freely. What if you want to copy the data? You can press the Ctrl button before you drag to move; the new column will copy all the selected data.
Speedily Delete Blank Cells Some default data will be blank, for various reasons. If you need to delete these to maintain accuracy, especially when calculating the average value, the speedy way is to filter out all blank cells and delete them with one click. Choose the column you want to filter, go to Data->Filter, after the downward button shows, undo Select All and then pick up the last option, Blanks. All blank cells will show immediately. Go back to Home and click Delete directly, all of them will be removed.
Vague Search With Wild Card You may know how to activate the speedy search by using the shortcut Ctrl + F, but there are two main wild cards Question Mark and Asterisk used in Excel spreadsheets to activate a vague search. This is used when you are not sure about the target result. Question Mark stands for one character and Asterisk represents one or more characters. What if you need to search Question Mark and Asterisk as a target result? Don t forget add a Wave Line in front.
Generate A Unique Value In A Column You are aware of the key function of Filter, but few people use the Advanced Filter, which will be repeatedly applied when you need to filter a unique value from data in a column. Click to choose the column and go to Data->Advanced. A pop-up window will show up. As the screenshot shows, click Copy to another location, which should be in accord with the second red rectangular area. Then specify the target location by typing the value or clicking the area-choosing button. In this example, the unique age can be generated from Column C and show in Column E. Don t forget to choose Unique records only, then click OK. The unique value showing in column E can be the contrast of the original data in C, that s the reason why it is recommended to copy to another location.
Input Restriction With Data Validation Function In order to retain the validity of data, sometimes you need to restrict the input value and offer some tips for further steps. For example, age in this sheet should be whole numbers and all people participating in this survey should be between 18 and 60 years old. To ensure that data outside of this age range isn t entered, go to Data->Data Validation- >Setting, input the conditions and shift to Input Message to give prompts like, Please input your age with whole number, which should range from 18 to 60. Users will get this prompt when hanging the pointer in this area and get a warning message if the inputted information is unqualified.
Fast Navigation with Ctrl + Arrow Button When you click Ctrl + any arrow button on the keyboard, you can jump to the edge of the sheet in different directions. If you want to jump to the bottom line of the data, just try to click Ctrl + downward button.
Tranpose Data from a Row to a Column You would use this feature if you want to transpose data to get a better display; however, retyping all data would be the last thing you would need to do if you know how to use the Transpose function in Paste. Here s how: copy the area you want to transpose, move the pointer to another blank location. Go to Home->Paste->Transpose, please note that this function won t activate until you copy the data first.
Hide Data Thoroughly Almost all users know how to hide data by right clicking to select the Hide function, but this can be easily noticed if there is only a little bit of data. The best and easiest way to hide data thoroughly is to use the Format Cells function. Choose the area and go to Home->Font->Open Format Cells->Number Tab->Custom->Type ;;; -> Click OK, then all the values in the area will be invisible, and can only be found in the preview area next to the Function button.
Compose Text with & Complicated formulation is unnecessary, as long as you know how to use &. You can compose any text freely with this symbol. Below I have four columns with different texts, but what if I want to compose them to one value in one cell? First, locate the cell that is to show the composed result, use the formulation with & as shown in the screenshot below. Click Enter: all texts in A2, B2, C2 and D2 will be composed together to become LizaUSA25@ in F2.
Compose Text with & Complicated formulation is unnecessary, as long as you know how to use &. You can compose any text freely with this symbol. Below I have four columns with different texts, but what if I want to compose them to one value in one cell? First, locate the cell that is to show the composed result, use the formulation with & as shown in the screenshot below. Click Enter: all texts in A2, B2, C2 and D2 will be composed together to become LizaUSA25@ in F2.
Transforming the Case of Text With all the tricks shared here, I ve tried my best to avoid complicated formulation. But there are still some simple and easy to use formulations to show you, like UPPER, LOWER and PROPER, which can transform texts for different purposes. UPPER will capitalize all characters, LOWER can change text to all lower case and PROPER will only capitalize the first character of a word.
Input Values Starting With 0 When an input value starts with zero, Excel will delete the zero by default. Rather than reset the Format Cells, this problem can be easily solved by adding a single quote mark ahead of the first zero, as shown.
Speed Up Inputting Complicated Terms With AutoCorrect If you need to repeat the same value and it is complicated to input, the best way is to use the AutoCorrect function, which will replace your text with the correct text. Take my name, Liza Brown, for example, which can be replaced by LZ. Therefore, every time I input LZ, it can autocorrect to Liza Brown. Go to File->Options->Proofing->AutoCorrect Options and input Replace text with correct text in the red rectangular area, as below.
One Click To Get More Status Most users know how to check the data status in the bottom of an Excel sheet, like Average and Sum Value. However, do you know you can move the pointer to the bottom tab and right click to get more status, as shown below?
Rename A Sheet Using Double Click There are multiple ways to rename sheets, and most users will right click to choose Rename, which actually wastes a lot of time. The best way is to just click twice, then you can rename it directly.
Using Templates A template is a predesigned spreadsheet you can use to create a new workbook quickly. Templates often include custom formatting and predefined formulas, so they can save you a lot of time and effort when starting a new project. Select New. Several templates will appear below the Blank workbook option. Select a template to review it. A preview of the template will appear, along with additional information on how the template can be used. Click Create to use the selected template. You can also browse templates by category or use the search bar to find something more specific.
Sorting Data
Resources Go to www.youtube.com and search for videos about Excel 2013 training or tutorials. Type either of the following in the YouTube Search Box: Excel 2013 training -OR_ Excel 2013 Tutorial For Beginners There are several videos that show you how to create or work with Excel workbookssearch the list that comes up for fundamental, beginner, etc. videos. Viewing the videos is free, but some may try to direct you to make a purchase at their sites (not necessary).