Excel Guide Handbook
Excel Guide Handbook
Excel Guide Handbook
Contents ................................................................................................. 1
Part I:
Background
Information
Excel Terminology
Term
Active Cell
Description
The active cell contains the cell pointer, a dark outline around the cell.
Auto Calculate
A feature that temporarily performs the following calculations on a range of cells without making
you write a formula: Average, Count, Count Numbers, Max, Min, or Sum.
The excel default workbook contains three worksheet tabs or sheets.
Blank Workbook
Cell Reference
Contiguous Range
The location of a cell in a worksheet identified by its column letter and row number. This is also
known as the cells address.
A cell is the intersection of a column and a row on a worksheet. You enter data into cells to create
a worksheet.
A block of adjacent cells in a worksheet.
Cut
The command used to remove data from a cell or range of cells and place it on the Clipboard.
Defaults
Fill
The standard settings Excel uses in its software, such as column width or number of pages in a
workbook.
A method used to move or copy the contents of a range of cells by dragging the border of a
selection from one location in a worksheet and dropping it in another location.
Dragging this handle, located in the lower-right corner of the active cell, will copy cell contents,
formatting, or a formula to adjacent cells.
A color that fills a cell, appearing behind the data.
Font
Cell
Drag-and-drop
Feature
Fill Handle
Font Size
Font Style
A cell style, or just style, can include any formatting that can be set in the Format Cell dialog. This
includes all of the font characteristics, number formats, alignments, fills (patterns), and borders.
Excel provides some pre-defined styles for numbers in the default workbook and with the Currency,
Percent, and Comma buttons.
Footer
Format
Formula Bar
Formula
As you enter data into a cell, it simultaneously appears in the Formula bar, which is located above
the worksheet frame.
An instruction Excel uses to calculate a number.
Function Name
Function
Gridlines
Header
Label Prefix
An apostrophe () used to indicate that a number is really a label and not a value.
Label
Text in the first row or column of a spreadsheet that identifies the type of data contained there.
Mathematical
Operators
Name Box
Symbols used in mathematics operations: + for addition, - for subtraction, * for multiplication, and
/ for division.
The text box located to the left of the Formula bar.
Numeric Label
A number entered in the worksheet as a label, not as a value, such as the year 2008 used as a
column label.
A dialog box that includes options to control the appearance of printed output.
Page Setup
Paste
The command used to place data from the Clipboard to a location on the worksheet.
Pattern
Description
The specified range of cells to be printed.
Print Options
Selections that control what, where, how, and how many copies of the output to print.
Print Preview
Print Titles
Row and column labels that are reprinted on each page of a worksheet printout.
Range
Redo
Relative Cell
Reference
A cell address expressed in relation to another cell in a formula. For example, rather than naming a
cell such as A3, a relative cell reference might identify a range of cells to the left of the cell
containing the formula.
Reduces or enlarges information to fit on a specified number of pages.
Scaling
Scroll
A way to view locations on the worksheet without changing the active cell.
Series
Sheet Tabs
Tabs that appear at the bottom of the workbook window, that display the name of each worksheet.
Standard Column
Width
Tab Scrolling Buttons
The default number of characters that display in a column based on the default font.
Template
Undo
A workbook with certain labels, formulas, and formatting preset, saving you time in creating
commonly used forms, such as invoices or purchase orders.
The command used to reverse one or a series of edition actions.
Value
Workbook
Worksheet
The work area for entering and calculating data made up of columns and rows separated by
gridlines (light gray lines). Also called a spreadsheet.
Buttons that appear just to the left of the sheet tabs, that allow you to scroll hidden tabs into view.
Ctrl Page Up
Page
Up
One screen up
Page
Down
Alt +
Page
Down
Alt +
Page
Up
Part II:
Excel 101
7. Active Cell
5. Vertical Scroll Bar
8. Sheet Tabs
9. Tab Scrolling
Buttons
Item
1
2
3&4
5&6
7
8
9
10
Description
Title Bar shows the name of the application, document, group, directory or file. If more than
one window is open, the title bar for the active window (the one in which you are working) has
a color or intensity different from other title bars.
Menu Bar contains the available menus from which you can choose commands.
Standard & Formatting Toolbar provide a quick method of working with various parts of the
worksheet. Toolbars can be customized and multiple toolbars can be displayed at the same
time.
Vertical & Horizontal Scroll Bars enable you to move through a spreadsheet when the entire
spreadsheet does not fit in the window or the allotted space. Click the scroll arrows with the
mouse to move through the spreadsheet or to see one line at a time.
Active Cell has a black border that appears around it.
Sheet Tabs are located at the bottom of the Excel window and allow you to change between
worksheets.
Tab Scrolling Buttons are used to display a particular worksheet tab.
Status Bar displays page number and progress of your print job.
What is a Cell?
A worksheet contains rows and columns that intersect to form cells. A black border appears around
the active cell. The name box, located on the left side of the Formula bar, displays the cell
reference (also known as the address) of the active cell (its column letter and row number).
Name Box
Excel highlights its column label (above
the worksheet) and row number (to the
left of the worksheet).
Active Cell
Insert a Column
You can insert or delete columns or rows when necessary to change the arrangement of the data on
the worksheet.
When you insert column(s) into a worksheet, existing columns shift their position to the right.
For example, if you select column C and then insert a column, the data that was in column C is
shifted to the right and becomes column D.
Follow the steps below to Insert a Column.
Delete a Column
When you delete a column, existing columns shift their positions to close the gap. Any existing
columns you select for deletion is erased. Data in existing columns is shifted back to the left to fill
the gap left by the deleted columns.
Follow the steps below to Delete a Column.
A
B
Insert a Row
When you insert rows into a worksheet, existing rows shift their position down.
For example, if you select row 3 and then insert a row, the data that was in row 3 is shifted down
and becomes row 4.
Delete A Row?
When you delete a row, existing rows shift their positions to close the gap. Any existing rows you
select for deletion are erased. Data in existing rows is shifted up to fill the gap left by the deleted
rows.
Follow the steps below to move data using the Drag-and-Drop Feature.
Complete Steps A-B as shown below.
Part III:
Making Your Report
Beautiful
Follow the steps below to generate different Font Styles and Font Sizes.
Complete Steps AB as shown below.
Color Fonts
You may want to change more than just the font style and font size: you may want to change the
font color.
Click OK.
Print Gridlines
Gridlines mark the cell borders. The Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box provides an option for
printing gridlines with your data. You can also print your worksheet in black and white (even if it
includes color fills or graphics).
Complete Steps A-D. Step A is shown below. Steps BD are as shown on the following pages.
A
From the File menu, choose
Page Setup.
Click OK.
Create Borders
By default, Excel applies a -pt. black solid line border around all table cells. Use the Borders
toolbar button to change the borders of table cells. You can select borders before you draw new
cells or apply them to selected cells.
Delete a Border
The Draw Borders toolbar also contains the erase borders button. There are times you will want to
change the border styles or completely delete a border.
In the Formatting
toolbar, click the
Borders drop-down
arrow.
Data is centered within the selected range. You can also left-or
right-align data within the merged cell by clicking the Align Left or
Align Right buttons on the Formatting toolbar.
Wrap Text
If you want text to appear on multiple lines in a cell, you can format the cell so that text wraps
automatically or you can enter a manual line break.
Click OK.
Vertical Text
Many times the label at the top of a column is much wider than the data stored in it. You can use the
Wrap text option (Format menu > Cells command > Alignment tab) to make a multiple-word label
narrower, but sometimes that's not enough. Vertical text is an option, but it can be difficult to read
and takes a lot of vertical space. You may want to try using rotated text and cell borders instead, as
shown in the following picture.
Under Orientation,
choose the degree of
orientation.
Click OK.
Resize Columns
There are two ways to resize a column. To resize or change the width of a column, you can use the
Mouse or the Menu. On a worksheet, you can specify a column width of 0 (zero) to 255. This value
represents the number of characters that can be displayed in a cell that is formatted with the
standard font.
The standard font is the default text font for worksheets. The standard font determines the default
font for the Normal cell style. If the column width is set to 0, the column is hidden.
Part IV:
Saving Money and
Working Smart
Follow the steps below to find the Cumulative Fall and Spring Grade Point Averages.
Complete Steps AI. Steps AD are shown below. Steps EJ are shown on the following pages.
Click OK.
Important: It is important that the formula is always placed in the FIRST ROW in order to copy the
formula to all the cells in the desired column. Do not be alarmed that Cell G1 appears to have an error
message, #DIV/0!, displayed. This message occurs because the Header Rows that contain both alpha
and numeric information have been averaged.
Highlight Column G by
clicking on G.
Complete Steps AD. AC are shown below. Step D is shown on the following page.
Click Sort.
Click OK.
Complete Steps A-D. Steps AC are shown below. Step D is shown on the following page.
B
Click Continue with the
current selection.
Click Sort.
Click OK.
Complete Steps AF. Step A is shown below. Steps BF are shown on the following pages.
B
From the Page Setup dialog
box, click the Header/Footer
tab.
Click Print.
Complete Steps AH. Step A is shown below. Steps BH are shown on the following pages.
Click OK.
Click OK.
In the Header/Footer
tab of the Page Setup
dialog box, the Footer
displays the Footer page
number (1).
Click Print.
Follow the steps below to Print To the Top Row on Each Page.
Complete Steps AF. Step A is shown below. Steps BF are shown on the following pages.
Click OK.
Page 1
Page 2
Complete Steps AE. Step A is shown below. Steps BE are shown on the following pages.
In the Print Preview, you have the following options: see the next page
of the worksheet (Next), enlarge the view of the worksheet (Zoom),
Print, access Page Setup (Setup), change margins (Margins), adjust
where the page breaks are by clicking and dragging with your mouse
(Page Break Preview), Close, or Help.
Portrait
Orientation
(vertical) printout.
Click Print.
Landscape
Orientation
(horizontal)
printout.
Complete Steps AE. Step A is shown below. Steps BE are on the following pages.
50
Click Print.
In the Print Preview, you have the following options: see the next
page of the worksheet (Next), enlarge the view of the worksheet
(Zoom), Print, access Page Setup (Setup), change margins (Margins),
adjust where the page breaks are by clicking and dragging with your
mouse (Page Break Preview), Close, or Help.