introduction to ms excel - a practical approach

8/11/2019 Introduction to MS Excel - A practical approach.

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Introducing Microsoft Excel 2010

Starting Excel

Worksheets and Workbook

Understanding the User Interface

Quick Access Toolbar

Ribbon

Formula Bar

Worksheet Area

Worksheet Tab

Status Bar

The Backstage View

Saving Excel Workbook

Creating New Excel Workbook

Opening Existing Excel Workbook

Getting Help with Excel 2010


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Introducing Microsoft Excel 2010

In this chapter, you learn how to work with Excel workbooks. You will learn how to start Excel,how an Excel file is organized, the new user interface in Excel 2010, and performing basic fileoperations. If you used Excel 2007 earlier, you will immediately notice one significant change in

Excel 2010: the Microsoft Office button, located at the top left corner of the program window inExcel 2007, has been replaced by the File tab. In Excel 2010 all of the workbook managementtasks such as saving and printing are moved to the File tab. Users can click to display thesecommands in the new Backstage view.

In Excel 2010, another new feature added is Paste Preview. This capability allows you to seehow your data will appear in the worksheet before you commit to the paste. By pointing to any ofthe icons in the Paste Options palette, you can switch between options to discover the one thatmakes your pasted data appear the way you want it to.

You can not only continue to modify the Quick Access Toolbar in Excel 2010, but also have

many more options for changing the ribbon interface. You can hide or display built-in ribbontabs, change the order of built-in ribbon tabs, add custom groups to a ribbon tab and createcustom ribbon tabs which, in turn, can contain custom groups.

In Excel 2010, statistical, scientific, engineering, and financial functions accuracy have beenimproved. Excel 2010 also contains more accurate statistical summary and test functions. Thenaming conventions used to identify the programs functions have been changed. This changeis most noticeable with regard to the programs statistical funct ions, though the older functionshave been retained to ensure that workbooks created in Excel 2010 would be compatible withworkbooks created in previous versions of the program. It is possible in Excel 2010 to createformulas by using the older functions.

Another powerful addition to Excel 2010 is the capability of summarizing data by usingSparklines which enhances the programs reporting and summary capabilities.

Filtering PivotTable Data by using Slicers in Excel 2010, visually indicate which values appear ina PivotTable and which are hidden. They are particularly useful when presenting data to anaudience that contains visual thinkers who might not be skilled at working with numerical values.

You have much more control over your data bars formatting in Excel 2010 than in Excel 2007.When you create a data bar in Excel 2010, it has a solid color fill, not a gradient fill like the barsin Excel 2007.

Rather than having to edit your images in a separate program and then insert them into yourExcel 2010 workbook you can now edit your images in the Excel workbook itself.


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Starting Excel

You can start Excel in multiple ways:

1. From the Start buttoni. Click on the Start button in the bottom left corner of Task bar ii. Click on All Programs

iii. Click on Microsoft Office and then click on Microsoft Excel 2010

2. Start Excel from the Desktop Icon


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Worksheets and Workbook

Excel files are also called workbooks. Each file, or workbook, contains one or more worksheets.

A worksheet is a very large collection of rows and columns. Think of it as a giant data table witha maximum of 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns. A new Excel file (workbook) contains threeworksheets by default. You can add more worksheets or delete the ones you do not want. Aworkbook must have at least one worksheet.

Each worksheet has a name. You can see the worksheet name on the tab at the bottom of theworkbook. In a new workbook, the three default worksheets are named Sheet 1, Sheet 2, andSheet 3. You can rename the worksheet to give a meaningful name.

In the worksheet, the data is organized in cells. A cell is the intersection of a row and a column.

Excel uses alphabets as column labels and numbers as row labels. So the first column islabeled A and the first row is labeled 1.

The first cell is labeled A1 (label of the column followed by the label of the row).

You can use both the mouse and the Arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate or move aroundthe worksheet.


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An Excel workbook with 3 default worksheets

Understanding the User Interface

Microsoft Excel 2010 has an easy to use user interface that builds on the design introduced withExcel 2007.

The user interface in Excel 2010 has six major elements as shown in the following picture:

I. Quick Access ToolbarII. Ribbon

III. Formula BarIV. Worksheet AreaV. Worksheet Tabs

VI. Status Bar


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Quick Access Toolbar

The top row in the interface is the Quick Access Toolbar you use it to quickly accesscommonly used functions like File Save, New File, Undo & Redo. You can customize it to showfunctions you use most.

To customize it:

i. Click on the Arrow next to the toolbar

ii. You will see a list of commands in the window. Click on the command you wish toinclude in the toolbar. To remove an item from the toolbar, click on the check mark nextto the command.


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iii. To move the Toolbar below the Ribbon, click on the check box Store Quick AccessToolbar below the Ribbon

To get the Excel Options, go to File menu and select Options


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iv. To add commands not shown in the list, click the More Commands option

Ribbon

The Ribbon interface was introduced in Excel 2007. All Office 2010 programs organizecommands on a horizontal bar called the ribbon, which appears across the top of each programwindow whether or not there is an active document. Commands are organized on task-specific


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tabs of the Ribbon and in feature-specific groups on each tab. Commands generally take theform of buttons and lists. Some appear in galleries. Some groups have related dialog boxes ortask panes that contain additional commands.

Dynamic Ribbon Elements

The Ribbon is dynamic. As the width of the Ribbon changes the appearance of commands onthe Ribbon also changes. A command might be displayed on the ribbon in the form of a largebutton, a small button, a small labeled button, or a list entry. As the width of the ribbondecreases, the size, shape, and presence of buttons on the ribbon adapt to the available space.

For example, when sufficient horizontal space is available, the buttons on the tabs are spreadout and youre able to see more of the commands available in each group.

If you decrease the width of the ribbon, small button labels disappear

Each tab in the Ribbon contains tools and commands for working with your worksheet. Click oneach tab to see what you can do with it.


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Home Tab

Contains commonly used commands for Copy / Paste, Formatting, Inserting rows and columns.

Insert

This tab has options to insert various objects like Tables, Illustrations, Charts, Sparklines, Filter,Text, Symbols, Shapes, SmartArt, and Hyperlinks into your Excel worksheet.

Page Layout

Use this tab to change Page Themes, Orientation, Size, Margins, Backgrounds, Set Print Areasand Move Objects Forward and Back.

Formulas

Formulas are the most powerful feature of Excel 2010. Use Formula tab to find and use andcheck various Excel formulas in your worksheet.

Data

This tab has functions for importing /organizing external data into worksheets, option toConnections, Sort & Filter options and sophisticated Data tools.

Review

This tab has functions for reviewing and protecting your worksheet like Spell Check, Language,Comments and Protect.

View

This tab has commands to change how you see the worksheet, create and use Macros.

Formula Bar

This is where you enter / edit contents of a cell. It is called Formula bar but you can enteranything here, not just formulas.

Worksheet Area

This is the area where you enter and store data


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Worksheet TabThis tab shows all worksheets contained in the current workbook and worksheet names. Torename a worksheet,

i. Right click on the name of the worksheet

ii. Enter the new name and press Enter


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Status Bar

The Status bar displays information about your worksheet based on the cells you select in theworksheet.


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The Backstage View

You use the Backstage view to manage Excel files and settings.

If you used Excel 2007 earlier, you will immediately notice one significant change in Excel 2010:the Microsoft Office button, located at the top left corner of the program window in Excel 2007,has been replaced by the File tab.

In Excel 2010 all of the workbook management tasks such as saving and printing are moved tothe File tab. Users can click to display these commands in the new Backstage view.

Use Backstage view to perform functions such as creating, saving, opening and closing Excelfiles. The Backstage View is also the place where you can modify the information about thecurrent workbook. It also has the Print command for printing your worksheets. You can also setdefault options like file save location and language settings in the Backstage view.

i. Click on the File tab in the Ribbon to access the Backstage view

ii. Click on Options


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iii. Click on Save

iv. Click inside the Default file location text entry box and type new default location


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v. Click OK to save the new location


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Saving Excel Workbook

You can save your excel workbook by doing one of the following

1. Press CTRL+S on your keyboard the workbook will be saved in the default file locationyou set in using the Backstage View.

2. Click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar.

3. Click the File tab to open the Backstage View and then click on Save As menu option.

A Save As dialog box opens.

i. Click on File Name text entry box. Type the name of the file and then clickthe Save button.


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Creating New Excel Workbook

You can create a new workbook by doing one of the following

1. With Excel open, press CTRL+N on your keyboard Excel will create a new workbook

2. Click the Arrow next to the Quick Access Toolbar and then click on New


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3. Click the File tab and then click New . The New Workbook page of the Backstage viewappears.

Click on Blank Workbook, and then click Create . A new, blank workbook opens.


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Click the File tab to open the Backstage View and then click on Save As menu option tosave the workbook.

Opening Existing Excel Workbook

You can open an existing workbook by doing one of the following

1. To open an existing workbook, press CTRL+O on your keyboard Excel will show youthe list of files in the default file location to open

2. Click the Arrow Next to the Quick Access Toolbar and click on Open


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3. Click the File tab to open the Backstage View and click on Open

Getting Help with Excel 2010

In this section, you will learn how to use the Excel 2010 Help system. The Excel Help System isa combination of tools and files stored on your computer. These tools and files get installedalong with Excel. You can access additional files and resources from Office.com if yourcomputer is connected to the Internet.

You can find Help information in one of the following ways:

1. You can display a ScreenTip for help with an item on the screen. For example, to display

a ScreenTip for a button, point to the button (but do not click it). The ScreenTip gives thebuttons name, the keyboard shortcut, and a description of what the button does whenclicked.


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2. You can click the Microsoft Excel Help button (a question mark in a blue circle) locatedat the right end side of the ribbon to display the Excel Help window.

To access the Table of Contents, click the Show Table of Contents button on thetoolbar. The Help window now displays two panes. The Table of Contents task pane ison the left, organized by category. If you are connected to the Internet, Excel displayscategories, topics, and training available from the Office Online Web site as well asthose stored on your computer. If you click on any category (the book icon), Exceldisplays that categorys topics (represented by help icons).


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Below the bulleted list under Browse Excel 2010 Help, click Activating Excel .

Excel Help displays a list of topics related to activating Microsoft Office programs. Clickany topic to display the related information.

At the top of the Excel Help window, click the Type words to search for box, key inActivating Excel, and then press the Enter key. The Excel Help window displays topi csrelated to the word you entered.


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introduction to ms excel - a practical approach

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