beginning excel 2007

8/3/2019 Beginning Excel 2007

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BEGINNERS GUIDE TO EXCEL 2007

Workbooks and Worksheets

Excel files are called workbooks. By default, workbooks contain three worksheets and more can

be added. You can move between sheets by clicking on the sheet tab in the bottom left corner ofthe Excel window. Each worksheet in Excel 2007 contains over 16,000 columns and over 1Mrows.

Columns are identified by letters of the alphabet. Rows are numbered. The intersection of acolumn and a row is called a cell. Cells are identified by both their column and row, so the firstcell in the worksheet is would be cell A1. Case does not matter when you use a cell address.

You can move around a worksheet by pointing and clicking with your mouse, pressing the tab orarrow keys, or using a combination of keys:

Key combination What it doesCtrl+Home Moves to cell A1 of the current worksheet

Page Down Moves down the worksheet

Page Up Moves up the worksheet

Alt+Page Down Moves to the right on the worksheet

Alt+Page Up Moves to the left on the worksheet

F5 Go to keypress F5 and enter any cell address

Excel Ribbons

The top of the Excel window contains a series of tabs, beginning with Home, Insert, etc. Eachtab connects to a ribbon containing Excel functions. Ribbons are divided into groups thatcontain similar functions. For example, the Font group on the Home ribbon contains icons thathave to do with changing the attributes, font face, and font size of type. In addition, some groupscontain a dialog box launcher that leads to even more options.

Ribbon

Font groupDialog box launcher

Home tab


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Beginning Excel 2007

Updated September 2009

Helen L. Brackett, CSU Center for Instructional Development 2

Quick Access Toolbar

Ribbons cant be customized, but you can add icons to the Quick Access toolbar in the top left

corner. The Quick Access toolbar also contains the Undo icon.

To customize the Quick Access toolbar:

1. Click on the down arrow at the right side of the toolbar.2. Select a command from the listed commands OR3. Click on More Commands and browse the entire list. Once you find a command to add,

click on Add.

The example above shows the addition of the open, close, and new document icons.

Range Name Box and Formula Bar

Any cell that you are currently in is called the active cell. Because of the multitude of columnsand rows, sometimes it is hard to determine the address of the active cell. An easy way to do thisis to look at the range name box directly above the column A header. As its name implies, theRange Name box also lists any named ranges in the workbook (more on this in anotherhandout!).

The formula bar is on the same line and to the right of the range name box. The formula barshows the contents of a cell and can be used for editing the contents of a celljust click on theformula bar and move your insertion point with the mouse or arrow keys. You can also usebackspace and delete keys to edit.

Quick access toolbar


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Opening a new workbook

To open a new workbook, click on the new icon, if you added it to the Quick Access toolbar, or

click on the MS Office button in the top left corner of the screen, New, Blank Workbook, Create.

Ranges

A range is a rectangular portion of a worksheet. Ranges are defined by their diagonal corners,usually top left and bottom right. In this example, the range of A1 to B5 has been selected:

Although we would say A1 to B5 when referring to this range, we would write A1:B5. Note

that cell A1 is white while the other cells are shaded. Thats because cell A1 was the active cellwhen the range was selected.

Ranges are used whenever you want to do something to the cells, such as use them in a formula,format them, or copy/move them.

To select a range, click on the cell in the corner, hold your mouse button down, then click anddrag to select the rest of the cells in the range. You can also hold down the Shift key and useyour arrow keys on the keyboard to select a range. To unselect a range, click any place in theworksheet.

Entering text, values, and formulas

You can enter three types of information in a cell: text, values, and formulas. Text usuallyconsists of words such as cat, dog, horse, etc. However, numbers, such as Social Security


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Numbers or phone numbers can also be text. The most important thing to remember is that youwill never be able to do any mathematical calculations on text.

Values consist of numbers or dates. Even though you might enter a date as 7/1/09, which lookslike text, Excel views that date as a numerical value based on how many days have passed since1/1/1900. Because of this, Excel can perform mathematical functions on dates.

Formulas are the third type of information that can be entered into Excel. Formulas instructExcel to perform some kind of mathematical operation. Formulas ALWAYS begin with an =(equal) sign. You do not have to use uppercase characters when entering a formula, but Excelwill display uppercase characters after the formula is entered.

Excel is a great tool for calculating what ifs. What if it cost you $1.00 to manufacture aproduct and you sold 100,000 of them at $2.50 each? What would your profit be? What if themanufacturing cost rose to $1.50? What would that do to your profits? To get the greatestbenefit out of Excel, when you write a formula, try to use cell addresses in the formula ratherthan real numbers.

In addition to formulas that you write, Excel contains about 300 special formulas called

functions. These functions calculate everything from interest rates to the cosine of an angle.Functions use certain syntax: an equal = sign, the name of the function, and the argument. Theargument may be the cells that the function is going to act on or some other information that thefunction needs to act properly.

Example:

Function What it does

=SUM(A1:A10) Totals the contents of cells A1 through A10.

=PMT(5%/12,5*12,10000) Calculates the payment amount of a $10,000 loan at a constantinterest rate of 5% with monthly payments for the next 5 years.

=Today() Returns todays date. Note that while the parentheses are present,there is no argument.

Click on the icon on the formula bar to view Excels functions. You can either view the listby category or click on All in the Category list to see them all. When you select a function fromthe list, Excel will prompt you for the arguments. Any arguments that are bolded MUST becompleted for the formula to work. In the example below for the PMT function, Rate, Nper andPv must be completed. Fv and Type are optional. As you click in each box, Excel will give you

hints and/or definitions about the needed information


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Your Turn: Beginning Excel Exercise

Start a new worksheet.Click on the MS Office Button and select Save As.Choose the location and then key in Excel Practice as the file name.Enter the following data:


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Resizing Columns

Position your mouse pointer on thecolumnheader between the letters A & B. The mousepointer should change from a block cross to a double side arrow with a line going down the

middle. Double click. This willauto fit the column to the widest width in the entire column.To make the column a different width, hold the left mouse button down and drag the column tothe width desired.

Resize any other columns in your worksheet as needed.

Arithmetic operators

Use the following arithmetic operators in formulas:

Multiplication

*Division /

Addition +

Subtraction

Exponents ^

Percent %

Simple Formulas

In order to enter a formula in Excel, you have to start the equation with an equal sign.

B3 is the cell reference for the price of copy paper. C3 is the cell reference for thequantity ordered.

We use the cell references in formulas wherever possible because, if we change the

price of the copy paper or the quantity later on, we do not have to redo the formula.

Use the following formula to calculate the total for copy paper in cell D3:

In cell D3 type = B3 * C4


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Order of Precedence in Excel Formulas

You must also consider order of precedence when writing formulas. Formulas must be writtenusing the PEMDAS rule. An easy way to remember it is Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.

Please ParenthesisExcuse ExponentsMy MultiplicationDear DivisionAunt AdditionSally Subtraction

Example:

The formula to add A1+B1 then divide by C1 is shown in cell D1 below.

If the parentheses were removed from the formula, according to the PEMDAS rule, B1/C1would occur first. This formula is shown in D2.

The results are:

In the Excel Practice example we are using, order of precedence does not make a differencesince we are multiplying only two numbers, price and quantity, but keep the PEMDAS rule inmind when you write formulas or your results will be very different from what you expect.


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Fill Handle

Copy the formula down using thefill handle. The fill handle is in the bottom right hand cornerof the cell. When you move the mouse to that corner, the pointer changes to a black plus sign.Hold the left mouse button down and drag through the cell that you want to copy the formula

to. This is an example of a formula usinga relative cell reference. (More on this in a anotherhandout)

Select cell D3:D14 and fill the formulas down the column.

Your results should look like this:

You can view the formulas by clicking in each individual cell or by pressing Ctrl+~ on yourkeyboard.


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Copy/Cut/Paste

Other ways to copy/cut/paste are listed below:

Copy (method 1) Click on the cell to be copied; click on the

copy icon in the Clipboard group on the Homeribbon; click on the target cell; click on thepaste icon in the Clipboard group on the Homeribbon.

Copy (method 2) Click on the cell to be copied; press CTRL+Con the keyboard; click on the target cell; pressCTRL+V on the keyboard.

Cut (method 1) Click on the cell to be cut; click on the cut iconin the Clipboard group on the Home ribbon;click on the target cell; click on the paste iconin the Clipboard group on the Home ribbon.

Cut (method 2) Click on the cell to be cut; press CTRL+X onthe keyboard; click on the target cell; pressCTRL+V on the keyboard.

Edit/Delete/Clear Contents of a Cell

Edit: If at any time you need to edit the contents of a cell, click in that cell, then press the Editkey (F2 at the top of your keyboard). You can also edit double-click in the cell or click in thecell then on the formula bar, then make changes.

Delete/Clear: To delete the contents of a cell or range of cells, select the cell(s) then press the

delete key. An alternate is to select the cell(s), then click on the icon in the editingGroup on the Home ribbon. Your options on the Clear icon are:

Clear All Removes everything, including any formattingapplied to the cell

Clear Formats Removes the format only; leaves the contents

Clear Contents Removes the contents, leaves the format

Clear Comments Removes an comments attached to the cell

AutoSum

To total the amounts in cell D15, you could select D15 and key =Sum(D3:D14). However, sinceSum is such a popular function, there is an icon for it in the Editing group of the Home ribbon.

Select cell D15.

Click theAutoSum button on the Home ribbon.Press Enter.


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Type the word Total in cell A15.

Formatting Cells

The worksheet would look better with some formatting. Column headers would stand out moreif they were bolded and currency style should be applied to all cells that have to do with money.

Select thecell range A1:D2. Format as bold. (Select B in the Font group on the Home ribbon)

Select the cell range B3:B14. Format as currency style. (select the $ in the Number group on the

Home ribbon)

Select the cell range D3:D15. Format as currency style.


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Inserting/Deleting Columns/Rows

The worksheet would look better with a title row, but to do that we need to insert a new, blankrow at the top.

Left click on row header 1 to select the entire row, then right-click and select Insert from themenu that appears. A new row appears at the top.

Rows inserted with this method always insert above the selected rows; column always insert tothe left of the selected column.

Heres a quick tip: select as many rows or columns as you need to insert. If you need to insertthree, select three, then right-click and insert.

Key in My Order in cell A1.

Select A1:D1 then click on Merge and Center in the Alignment group on the Home ribbon.


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Saving

To save a file, click on the Microsoft Office button in the top left corner or click on the Save iconon the Quick Access toolbar. When you create a file in Excel 2007, it is saved in the 2007 fileformat. If you want to save it in the 2003 file format, click on the Microsoft Office button, selectExcel 97-2003 in the file type at the bottom of the File, Save as window.

File saved as Excel 97-2003 file type.

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