Microsoft Office Excel 2010

What is Excel?

Excel is a popular spreadsheet program designed for use on a personal computer. Although it has many applications, Excel is used primarily as a financial modeling package for such purposes as budgeting, cash flow forecasting, sales reporting, and the preparation of profit and loss statements.
 
The initial Excel Application window includes the following elements:​
 

Title bar

This displays the name of the program, as well as the name of the current workbook if it has been saved.  (If the workbook has not been saved, it is identified by a number -- for example, Book1.)  The standard Windows Control-menu box and window sizing buttons appear at the right end of the bar.

 

Quick Access Toolbar

This displays buttons that correspond to commands. By default, the Quick Access Toolbar shows the Save, Undo, and Redo buttons.  However, you can modify the toolbar to include commands that you use frequently.

 

Tabs

These are areas on the Ribbon that contain buttons organized into groups. Tabs change based on the task you are performing in Excel.

 

Dialog Box Launcher

This button opens a dialog box that contains options for refining a command.

 

Groups

These are categories of buttons on a tab.  Each group contains command buttons that do specific things to your text. Groups and buttons change based on the task you are performing in Excel. Often, the buttons you are most likely to use are larger than the rest, depending on the size of the program window.

Ribbon

This area runs across the top of the screen and makes all the capabilities of Excel available in a single area, so you can work more efficiently with the application. Commands related to working with document content appear as buttons on tabs that make up the Ribbon. The Home tab is active by default. Clicking one of the other tabs, such as Insert, displays the buttons associated with that tab. The Microsoft Excel Help button appears at the far right side of the Ribbon.

 

Name box

This identifies the active cell (described on the following page).
 

Formula bar

This displays the contents of the active cell, if any.  As you will soon learn, it is also used to enter the formulas that specify calculations in a worksheet.

 

Workbook window

This window, which occupies the majority of the screen, displays an Excel workbook.  A workbook initially contains three worksheets, which are saved in a single file.  Each worksheet consists of a series of columns (identified by the letters A, B, C, etc., which appear across the top of the window) and a series of rows (identified by the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., which appear down the left side of the window).  Since an entire Excel worksheet can contain 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows, only a small part appears in this window at one time.

Columns and rows of a worksheet intersect to form cells.  Each cell is identified by its column/row coordinates, or cell reference (for example, B5).  Notice that cell A1 is currently surrounded by a border.  This border, or cell pointer, identifies the active cell -- that is, the cell in which any information entered from the keyboard will be stored.

 

Vertical/Horizontal scroll bars

These are used to scroll the Workbook window vertically/horizontally through a worksheet.
 

Worksheet tabs

These identify the various worksheets in a workbook, and allow you to move from one worksheet to another.

 

Status bar

This area across the bottom of the window displays information about the current document. You can hide an item of information by right-clicking the status bar and clicking that item.
 

 

Alignment of Cell Entries

By default, labels are left-aligned in a cell while values are right-aligned. Using the Align Left, Center and Align Right buttons in the Alignment group on the Home tab, however, you can easily reset the alignment of entries in single cells as well as in ranges of cells.

 

  Font Options for Cell Entries

The ability to use different font options to display and print cell entries is one of the most important features for enhancing the appearance of data in a worksheet.

 

Number Format of Cell Entries

Excel assigns the appropriate format to a number if you include a numeric symbol (for example, dollar sign or comma) when entering it. Numbers entered without a numeric symbol are assigned the default General format.

 

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Format as table

Microsoft Office Excel provides numerous predefined table styles (or quick styles) that you can use to quickly format a table. You can further adjust the table formatting by choosing Quick Styles options for table elements, such as header and total rows, first and last columns, and banded rows and columns.

Adding Borders and Shading to a Worksheet

One or more borders can add visual interest to a worksheet, as well as make the data easier to read and understand. Shading can also visually enhance a worksheet, as well as call attention to important information.
 

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Insert cells, columns and rows

With Excel, you can quickly insert new cells, rows and columns, as well as delete existing cells, rows and columns, anywhere in a worksheet. When you do so, existing or remaining rows/columns are adjusted automatically -- rows are moved down and columns are moved to the right to open up space for an inserted row/column; rows are moved up and columns are moved to the left to close up space left by a deleted row/column.

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​Working with worksheets

An Excel workbook, as you know, initially contains three worksheets, labeled Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. Although the various worksheets in a single workbook can contain dissimilar information, they are generally used to store related data -- for example, expense details for regional offices or sales figures for consecutive months. This data can be linked through one or more formulas, thereby allowing you to compare information from different sources, as well as consolidate that information to produce summary reports.

 

Reflection Activities

•Which features allows you to make the text stand out?
•Which feature, from format as table or adding border and shadings, allows you to use your creativity? Why?
•If you insert a column, the new column appear to the left or to the right the column you where selecting?
•Explain the process to rename a worksheet.

 

 

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