Introduction to Microsoft Excel

Objectives:
 To define spreadsheets and explain

basic functionality
 To introduce the basic features of

Excel
• Vocabulary
• Entering Data
• Formatting Data
• Precision vs. Display
• Operators & Order of Precedence

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Spreadsheet: Electronic sheet of paper
organized by columns & rows
The advantage of an electronic spreadsheet is it
allows you to easily change data and have all
“related” calculations automatically update..

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MS Excel Environment

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Spreadsheets in Excel are referred to as worksheets.
A workbook file may contain may worksheets. Sizing
Buttons
Help Button
Quick Access
Toolbar
Home
Ribbon Tabs Ribbon
Formula Bar
Name Box
Column Letter
Headings
Fx Insert
Function
Contents of
Button
Active Cell displayed
on Formula Bar
Row Numbers

Scroll Bars

Sheet Tabs Insert Worksheet

View Buttons Zoom
Button

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 File tab – opens menus for opening and
saving Files, and modifying Excel Options

Quick Access Toolbar can be

customized to include icons to frequently
Used features such as Print Preview

Home Ribbon use to change fonts, justify text, insert

rows etc. Ribbons are organized into Groups of similar tasks
such as the Font group or the Number group. In addition, there
are other ribbons containing groups/buttons for laying out pages
using the review features etc.

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 Each box is referred to as a “cell”. Cells may contain
Labels, Values or Formulas that result in a value or
label. A cell is identified first by its column letter and
then by its row number
Columns

Rows Cell D2
Contains
the Formula
= B2*C2
Labels

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 Working with Worksheets
 Inserting a worksheet
 Name of new worksheet is based on number

and names of other sheets in the workbook

 Deleting a worksheet
 Renaming a worksheet
 31 characters maximum, including blank

spaces
 Width of sheet tab adjusts to length of name

New Perspectives on Microsoft Office 2010

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 Working with Worksheets
 Moving and copying a worksheet
 To move:

 Click and drag

 To copy:

 Ctrl + drag and drop

 Place most important worksheets at

beginning of workbook (leftmost sheet

tabs), less important worksheets toward end
(rightmost tabs)
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 Editing Worksheet Content
 Use Edit mode to edit cell contents
 Keyboard shortcuts apply only to text within

selected cell

 Undoing and redoing an action

 Excel maintains a list of actions performed in a

workbook during current session

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 Editing Worksheet Content
 Using find and replace

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 Editing Worksheet Content
 Using the spelling checker

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 Format Cells dialog box
 Formatting is the process of changing the appearance of your
workbook.
 A properly formatted workbook can be easier to read, appear
more professional, and help draw attention to important points.
 The formatting toolbar is the fastest way to format your
worksheet.
 With buttons on this toolbar, you can apply a comma format,
adjust the number of decimal places in a number, apply
Currency and Percent formats and even quickly copy formats.
 If you select a cell or range, click Format on the menu bar and
then click Cells, the Format Cells dialog box opens.

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The Format Cells dialog box

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 Format data using different
fonts, sizes and font styles
 A font is the design applied to letters, characters
and punctuation marks. Each font is identified by
a font name or type face.
 Fonts can be displayed in various sizes and you
can even change the color of the font or the
background color in the cell.
 These options are available in the Format Cells
dialog box and there are also buttons available
for the formatting toolbar to make formatting
faster.

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 Align cell contents
 When you enter numbers and formulas into a
cell, Excel automatically aligns them with the
cell's right edge and bottom border, while text
entries are aligned with the left edge and bottom
border.
 You can control the alignment of data within a
cell horizontally and vertically.
 Left, Right and Center alignments can be selected
using their respective alignment buttons on the
Formatting toolbar.
 To align the cell's contents vertically, open the
Format Cells dialog box and choose the vertical
alignment options on the Alignment tab.

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 Align using Merge and Center
 Another option available for alignment in the
Format Cells dialog box and on the Format
toolbar is the Merge and Center option, which
centers text in one cell across a range of cells.
 If you want to fit a lot of text within a cell but
without having to expand the column width to be
very large, you can use the text wrapping option
on the Alignment tab, or even choose to indent
text.
 You can also have Excel shrink the text to fit
within the given column width you have chosen
or even rotate text from -90 to +90 degrees.

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The Alignment tab of the
Format Cells dialog box

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Examples of text formatting
Wrapping text & resizing the worksheet columns

Columns resized

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 Values can also be used to display dates

 Dates are values that can be

entered in several formats:
January 27, 2013 or 1/27/2013
 Excel converts these dates to a
numerical representation
(1/22/2013  41301)
 Thus dates may be used in
formulas: =A1–B1 will result in
the value 5

Note: To do arithmetic calculations with dates if you type =1/27/2013-

1/22/2013 directly in a cell it does not interpret it a date – cell references
must be used.

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 Add patterns or colors to cells
 Patterns and colors can be used to enhance
the appearance of spreadsheet cells.
 The fastest way to apply background color
to cells in the worksheet is by clicking the
list arrow of the Fill color button and
choosing a color from the palette.
 To apply a fill pattern to cells, use the
Patterns tab on the Format Cells dialog
box.

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The Patterns tab of the Format Cells
dialog box

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 Walkthrough: Building a Simple
Spreadsheet
• Entering labels and values
• Formatting cells
– font, size, style, color, borders, alignment
– Numeric Format, Currency, Decimal Places
– text wrap, center titles
– Column widths, row height
• Inserting/Deleting rows and columns and sheets
• Writing a simple formula & modify decimal display
• Create a simple chart
• Sheet tabs
– Creating a new worksheets in a workbook (“new sections in a
document”, Naming Sheets

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Microsoft Excel Vocabulary

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