CHAPTER 1 ■ BECOMING ACQUAINTED WITH EXCEL

Clicking the dialog box launcher for the Font group, Alignment group, or Number group will bring up
the Format Cells dialog box in Figure 1-14.

Figure 1-14. Format Cells dialog box started from the Font dialog box launcher

If you click the Font group’s dialog box launcher the Font tab will be selected. If you click the Alignment
group’s dialog box launcher the Alignment tab will be selected. We will work with dialog box launchers in
later chapters.

Minimizing and Hiding the Ribbon

If you think the Ribbon is taking up too much of your window space, you can either minimize it so that it
only displays the tab names or you can hide it completely. Clicking the Ribbon display button in the upper
right-hand corner of the Excel window displays three options. See Figure 1-15.

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Figure 1-15. Three Ribbon options

The options are:

• Auto-hide Ribbon: Puts your Excel workbook in full-screen mode and hides the
Ribbon completely. When your Ribbon is in Auto-hide mode you will see this
in the top right corner of your window. Clicking the three dots or
anywhere to the left of them at the top of the screen will bring back the Ribbon.
When you click inside the spreadsheet the Ribbon will disappear again.
• Show Tabs: Shows only the Ribbon tabs. Clicking a tab will display the groups with
their buttons. Clicking anywhere on the spreadsheet will hide the groups and their
buttons again. Pressing Ctrl + F1 works like a toggle switch while in this mode by
hiding and unhiding the groups and buttons.
• Show Tabs and Commands: This options makes the Ribbon display in full at all
times.

You can also collapse the Ribbon by clicking the up arrow at the far right side of the Ribbon.

Using Ribbon Shortcuts

You were always able to use keyboard shortcuts when selecting menu items in Microsoft Office 2003 and
previous versions. Microsoft kept this capability with the Ribbon. Pressing the Alt key on your keyboard
brings up the shortcut keys as shown in Figure 1-16 for each of the Tabs as well as the QAT. Keying one of the
shortcut keys for one of the Quick Access Toolbar buttons will perform that command.
Entering the shortcut key for a Ribbon tab will make that tab active. As you can see from Figure 1-16
pressing the F key will make the File tab active and pressing the H key will make the Home tab active. Notice
that the N key is used for the Insert tab. Most of the letters have no relation to the names of the options.

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Figure 1-16. Shortcut keys for Ribbon tabs and the Quick Access Toolbar

When you press the letter key for the tab you want to use, shortcut keys appear for every option on that
tab. Figure 1-17 shows the shortcut keys for all the options on the Home tab. Notice, you may need to enter
more than one letter for the shortcut.

Figure 1-17. Shortcut keys for Home tab commands

Pressing a shortcut key from a tab performs that command or it will display more shortcut keys if the
command has more options available. For example, to use the keyboard to apply the Merge & Center option
you would do the following:
1. Press the Alt key then press the H key to select the Home tab.
2. Press M to select the Merge button.
3. Then press C to select the Merge & Center option. See Figure 1-18.

Figure 1-18. Shortcuts for commands under the Merge & Center category

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■ Note Even if the tab is active for the command you want to use, you must still press the Alt key and then
the shortcut key for the tab. In other words, if the shortcut key isn’t displayed, you can’t use it.

You should now be able to use the Ribbon to move around and enter data into the worksheet. The
Ribbon drives the functionality of the Excel program.
Besides using commands from the Ribbon you can select them from a QAT, which is what we’ll cover in
the next section.

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar provides a quick and convenient place for you to store and access
• the tools that you use most often
• tools that are not normally found on the Ribbon
• macros that you create
By default, the Quick Access Toolbar shown in Figure 1-19 is located above the Ribbon in the upper left-
hand corner of the Excel window.

Figure 1-19. Quick Access Toolbar

By default, the QAT displays

• the save button, which uses a diskette for an icon
• the undo and redo buttons
• a drop-down button from which you can select other tools to be displayed on the QAT
Clicking the drop-down button on the right side of the QAT displays the Customize Quick Access
Toolbar from which you can select other buttons to be added to your QAT. See Figure 1-20.

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Figure 1-20. Click the drop-down button to select Items to Add to or Remove from the QAT

The QAT can be moved below the Ribbon by selecting the Show Below the Ribbon option from the
drop-down menu. This may be a better place for it since it will provide more room for additional tools.

Switch Between Touch and Mouse Mode

Because many monitors today are touch screen, Microsoft has added a Touch/Mouse Mode button. This
button can be added to the QAT by selecting it from the QAT drop-down menu. See Figure 1-20. Clicking the
down arrow of the Touch/Mouse Mode button displays the two options shown in Figure 1-21.

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