Introduction to Excel for CLAIT Users

Excel Desktop
The Standard and the Formatting Toolbars, found just below the Excels Main Menu - as shown below, are displayed by default. To display any other toolbars, click View you want. Toolbars select a toolbar

Alternatively, you can right-click anywhere within the toolbars area and select a desired toolbar from the shortcut menu. To find out what each button is used for, just hover the mouse pointer over the appropriate button and you will get a Screen Tip to help you. To get even greater help with the features, press Shift + F1 and click on any toolbar icon, any desktop feature or any commands in pull down menus or within dialogue boxes.
Main Menu Standard Toolbar

Formula Bar Active cell Name box

Scroll buttons/ arrows

Title Bar

Worksheet tabs

Formatting Toolbar

A typical Excel worksheet consists of a table of cells, arranged in 65 536 rows and 256 columns. Columns maximum width is 255 characters and maximum height of rows is 409 points. Column and row labels reference each cell, so that the cell selected above is A1 this is also shown in the Name Box on the left hand side of the Formula toolbar. Number sheets in a workbook is limited by the available memory of the computer. A spreadsheet is limited to 16 undo levels.

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Workbooks & Worksheets

A workbook is the file in which you work and store your data. As each workbook can contain many worksheets, you can organize various kinds of related information in a single file. A worksheet is a table unit within a file called workbook. You can enter and edit data on several worksheets simultaneously and perform calculations based on data from multiple worksheets. Sheet tabs are the names of the worksheets that appear on tabs at the bottom of the workbook window. To move from sheet to sheet, click the sheet tabs. A spreadsheet is a worksheet/table consisting of columns and rows onto which you enter values and formulas to make calculations. Below is an example of a spreadsheet:

Cell
A cell is a single box in the spreadsheet at which a column and a row intersect. A cell is the smallest unit of the spreadsheet into which you enter information.

A cell

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Entering and Deleting Text, Numbers or Formulae

To Enter Text, a Number or a Formula

1. 2. 3. Click on the cell into which you wish to make the entry. Type in the text, number or formula. Accept the entry by: i. ii. iii. 4. 5. Pressing Enter / Return. Pressing any of the arrow keys or the Tab key. Clicking on the green tick in the Formula toolbar.

Remember that a Formula always starts with an equal sign = . Note also that if the column is not wide enough to display all the text and the next column is empty (as the sample below shows) the text will spill over into the next cells.

To Clear/Delete Contents, Formats or Comments from Cells

1. To clear the contents of a cell, select the cells, rows or columns and then do one of the following: i. Press the Delete or Backspace key. (The cell contents are removed but not cell formats or comments, if any). Click Edit and then click All, Contents, Clear Formats or Comments, depending what do you want to clear from the selected area. Right-click on the cell and select Clear Contents from the shortcut menu. Select the cells, rows, or columns you want to delete, then click Edit Delete or Right-click rows, columns or selected area/cells and select Delete from the shortcut menu. Surrounding cells shift to fill the space.

ii.

iii. 2.

To delete cells, rows, or columns i. ii.

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Columns
A column is a series of cells that goes down the spreadsheet. Each column has a reference, which is a letter of the alphabet (A, B, C etc). The lettered or numbered gray area at the top of each column is the column heading or column title.

Column A

Changing the Column Width

3. Change the width of a column manually. i. Point to the right border of a column heading (an oval cross will change to a solid cross ). After an oval cross changes to a solid cross, left-press (Excel will give you a readout of a present width!) and drag to a desired width.

ii.

4.

Change the width of a column by double-clicking the column heading right border. i. ii. Point to the right border of a column heading (an oval cross will change to a solid cross ). Double-click the column heading border.

5.

Change the width of a column through the Excels Main Menu. i. Select the cell with the width value you want to adjust the width of a column, e.g. in our case A6. Choose Format Column AutoFit Selection.

ii.

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Rows
A row is a series of cells extending across the spreadsheet. Each row is referenced by a number (1,2,3 etc). Each row has the row heading or row title

Row 3

Row Height
Changing row height is done in the similar way as column width except that you go to the bottom of the row heading and click, hold and drag its border until the row is the height you need. 1. To change all or some of the rows to a particular height: i. ii. iii. iv. Select rows the height of which you want to change. Choose Format Click OK. Row Height Type a new value in the Row height box.

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Worksheet Formatting
To Format Numbers
1. As General format, select rows, columns or range of cells, then: i. ii. 2. Choose Format Cells. Under Category select General (cells have no specific number format) OK.

As Numbers (with decimals), select cells, rows/columns, then: i. Choose Format Cells. Under Category select Number select the number of decimal places OK.

ii.

3.

As Integers (without decimals), select cells, rows/columns, then: i. ii. Choose Format Cells. reduce the number of decimal Under Category select Number places to zero OK. Choose Format Cells.

4.

As Currency (with a pound sign ), select cells, rows/columns, then: i. ii. Under Category select Currency make sure the pound symbol is selected select number of decimal points, if required OK.

To Format Text
Select the characters you want to format, and then click a button on the Formatting toolbar, just like in a word processing package.

Align Left Align Centre

Align Right

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To insert a Row/Column
1. 2. To insert an additional row between rows 9 and 10, select any cell in row 10 (always the greater of the two!), and then click on Insert Rows. To insert an additional column between columns C and D, select any cell in column D (remember always the greater of the two!), click on Insert Columns.

3.

Alternatively, to insert a new column/row or a cell: i. ii. iii. Simply right-click on the column/row heading or cell where you want to insert. Choose insert from the shortcut menu. If you click on a cell, you will be asked how you want to move the existing cells to make room for the new ones. From the Insert shortcut menu select Entire column/row to insert a new column/row or select Shift cells right/down to insert only a cell within the column/row. Click OK.

iv.

v.

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To delete a Row/Column
1. To delete the contents of a row or column (and leave empty cells) select the entire row or column by clicking on the row number or column letter (i.e. in the grey area as shown in the screenshot above for Column B) and press the delete key. To delete the row or column itself select the entire row or column by clicking on the row number or column letter (i.e. in the grey area) and click on Edit on the Menu toolbar, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

2.

3.

An alternative way to delete the row or column: i. ii. iii. Right-click on any cell in the row or column. Select Delete from the shortcut menu. From the Delete box choose Entire row or Entire column as shown below. Click OK

iv.

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Spreadsheet Formulae
1. 2. A Formula always starts with an equal sign =. Formulae may include: i. ii. iii. iv. 3. Numbers Cell references Arithmetic operators (+, , etc) Text or nothing within quotation marks, e.g. Well Done! or .

Function names, e.g. SUM, Product, Power

4.

Formula examples here are a few examples of what you can do with a formula: To do this: Add cells B2 and C2 Multiply the contents of cell B3 by 4 Divide cell C4 by 5 Take cell B7 from C7 Multiply cell D5 by cell B1 Multiply cells B5 + C5 by 2 To raise cell C6 to the power 2 Type this into a cell =B2 + C2 =B3 * 4 or =4 * B3 =C4 / 5 =B7 C7 =D5 * B1 =(B5 + C5) * 2 =C6 ^ 2

5.

The order in which Excel calculates is given below:

Order Brackets Over or Exponentiation (to the power of) Division and Multiplication (left to right) Addition and Subtraction (left to right)
6.

Operator () ^ / * +

Example =(B5 + C5) * 2 =C6 ^ 2 =C4 / 5 =D5 * B1 =B2 + C2 =B2 C2

A Formula to sum the cells in a row or column can be quickly created by: i. ii. iii. iv. Selecting a cell for the formula Clicking on the AutoSum icon Adjusting necessary the range if

And pressing the Enter/Return key.

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To Replicate (Copy) the Contents of a Cell

Method 1: Using Copy
7.

Paste action

To copy a Formula from one cell to other adjacent or non-adjacent cells, select the cell to be copied (by clicking on it), then: i. ii. iii. Choose Edit Copy OR on the Standard toolbar OR Click on the Copy icon

Right-click on the cell to be copied and select Copy from the shortcut menu. Click Edit Paste OR OR

8.

Select the cell(s) into which the formula is to be copied, then: i. ii. iii. Click on the Paste icon

Right-click on the selection and choose Paste from the shortcut menu.

9.

Finally press the Escape key [Esc] to terminate the copying process.

Method 2: Using the Cells Fill Handle

When you select a cell in Excel, the bottom right hand corner of the cell will contain a tiny square, called fill handle that you can use to copy the contents of the cell to other neighbouring (adjacent) cells. Remember, if a cell contains the formula, only the formula will be copied, otherwise the value of the cell will be copied. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click on the cell that contains the formula to be copied. Hover the mouse pointer over the fill handle until the mouse pointer (oval cross) changes to a solid cross. Press the mouse button and drag across the cells into which you want to copy the formula. Release the mouse button. Click anywhere to deselect the cells.

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To Preview and Print your Spreadsheet

Before printing, check with the Print Preview facility that your spreadsheet will print as intended. 1. Double click the Sheet tab and give it a meaningful name. Click on the Print Preview icon. Make sure that the Preview status bar indicates that your spreadsheet occupies only one page. You may change Page Orientation and/or click on Fit to 1 page(s) wide by 1 page tall option box. On the Sheet tab you can select gridlines to be printed for better readability. Under the Header/Footer tab, in the Footer you may add your name, centre number, date and print no, among other details.

2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

7. 8.

Click Ok

and OK again, when finished, and print your spreadsheet.

As the next printout will incorporate changes to the spreadsheet, make a copy of the Sheet tab and work on the copy. Ask your tutor to show you how to accomplish that.

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To View / Print Spreadsheet Formulae

To display and print the formulae you have used in the spreadsheet, folow the following steps: 1. 2. Click on Tools on the Menu Bar. Click on Options from the drop down menu. The following window should then appear:

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Make sure the View tab is at the front by clicking on it. Click on the box next to Formulas - a tick should appear in it. Click on OK. It may be necessary to increase the width of the column containing the formulae in order to display them correctly. Use Print Preview Page Setup to fit the printout to 1 page.

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Some Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

Press Arrow keys HOME CTRL+HOME END, HOME CTRL+END ENTER ALT+ENTER TAB ESC BACKSPACE DELETE = (equal sign) CTRL+; (semicolon) CTRL+` (single left quotation mark) CTRL+A CTRL+C CTRL+B CTRL+I CTRL+V CTRL+X CTRL+Z To Move one cell up, down, left, or right Move to the beginning of the row Move to the beginning of the worksheet Move to the end of the row Move to the last cell on the worksheet Complete a cell entry and move down in the selection Start a new line in the same cell Complete a cell entry and move to the right in the selection Cancel a cell entry Delete the character to the left of the insertion point, or delete the selection Delete the character to the right of the insertion point, or delete the selection Start a formula Enter the date Alternate between displaying cell values and displaying cell formulas Select All Copy the selection Bold Italics Paste Cut Undo

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