Excel Tutorial
Introduction to Excel
Excel is a component of Microsoft Office. It is a spreadsheet program. In Excel,spreadsheets is called Worksheets. It enables the user to enter and store data in rows and columns form,to perform mathematical and other calculations on the entered / stored data and to analyze and present data in more meaningful and useful form / format.
What is a Spreadsheet or Worksheet?
A Worksheet is a grid of columns and rows like a book-keeping ledger. The Columns in a worksheet are designated by letters and Rows are designated by numbers. The intersection of a column and a row forms a Cell. Each cell on a worksheet has a unique address that is the combination of the intersecting column letter(s) and row number.
Excel 2003 Screen Elements
Excel Screen Elements
Title bar
Excel Title bar
Title bar is located on the top of the Excel Screen. Excel displays the name of the workbook (i.e. file) being usedcurrently. In the above picture, you should see "Microsoft Excel - Book1". "Book1" is the name of the workbook i.e. the file in use.
Menu bar
Excel Menu bar
Menu bar is located directly below the 'Title bar'. Menu bar contains Menu tabs File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tool, Data, Window and Help. The first letter of menu tabs is underlined. Typing 'Alt + the underlined letter' or a click on the 'Menu tab' will open the drop-down menu associated with the tab. Menus are used to give commands to the software.
Standard Toolbar
Excel Standard toolbar
The Standard Toolbar provides shortcuts to various 'commands' being used frequently by the user like opening or a creating workbook (file), opening, Saving, printing a workbook, Print preview, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo, Sum, Sort Ascending, Sort Descending the contents of selected cells, Zoom etc. On moving the mouse over the icons on the tool bar, the command associated with the icon is displayed in a pop up.
Format Toolbar
Excel Format toolbar
Format toolbar provides commands for formatting thecells and its contents, merging / demerging cells, increasing or decreasing height of rows and width of columns, horizontal and vertical aligning of cell contents etc. A user can add or remove icons (commands) to the toolbar as per his requirements.
Formula bar
Excel Formula bar
Formula bar has Name box on the left to display the address of the selected cell. The other box on the formula bar displays number, text, formula or other contents of the selected cell. You can enable or disable display of the Formula bar by clicking on View followed adding or removing check mark against Formula bar.
Status bar
Excel Status bar
The Status bar is located at the bottom of the Excel screen. The bar displays status of the window on the left. The word 'Ready' indicates that Excel is in the Ready mode and is awaiting your next command. Other indicators appear on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen are:
- The letters "NUM" on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen indicate that the Num Lock is on.
- The letters "CAPS" on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen indicate that the Caps Lock is on.
- The letters "SCRL" on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen indicate that the Scroll Lock is on.
- The letters "END" on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen indicate that the End key is on.
- The letters "EXT" on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen indicate that the Extension of selected cell / range is on. Pressing F8 key anchors a cell / range for extension by pressing arrow keys and repressing F8 key removes the anchor.
A right click on the Status bar displays Sum, Average, Count, Maximum or Minimum of the selected cells. You can enable or disable display of the Status bar by clicking on View followed adding or removing check mark against Status bar.
Other Toolbars
Besides above commonly used toolbars, there are other toolbars viz. Chart toolbar, Forms toolbar, WordArt toolbar, Pivot Table toolbar, Drawing Toolbar, Formula Audit toolbar etc. which can be added or removed by openingView menu followed by a click on Toolbars and then selecting or removing the desired toolbar.